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Superstorm disruption continues, but some US flights expected today

This aerial photo shows the Breezy Point neighborhood, in New York, yesterday where more than 50 homes were burned to the ground on Monday night as a result of superstorm Sandy. Sandy, the storm that made landfall on Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than six million homes and businesses.

Flights between Bermuda and the US East Coast are expected to resume today following the havoc wreaked on that area by superstorm Sandy.Meanwhile the Island’s container ships have all been delayed by the monster storm, and the cruise ship Regatta has cancelled an anticipated visit here this weekend.Governor George Fergusson expressed his concern about the deadly storm’s impact in a letter to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, sent as a show of “solidarity”.“Bermuda is all too aware that we were scheduled to be in the path of the storm at one stage,” he wrote. “So many people here know New York well — my wife and I were there two weeks ago — and have a strong sense of what has been damaged.“But New York’s resilience is famous and widely admired, and will certainly kick in again now.”John F Kennedy International Airport’s website yesterday listed American Airlines flight 1416 as departing from the city at 5.40pm, arriving in Bermuda at 8.55pm.JetBlue flight 1731 was cancelled on that site, but listed to arrive here at 2.17pm according to LF Wade International Airport.United Airlines flight 1419 was scheduled to arrive at 3pm, according to both Newark Liberty International Airport and the Bermuda airport.Travellers should check with airlines for up-to-date flight information.Meanwhile the container ship TheOleander has been delayed by severe hurricane damage in New Jersey.The vessel was expected to return to the Island on Monday, but will now leave the US on November 9, arriving here on November 12.The Bermuda Islander is expected to arrive this weekend, a Meyer spokesman said.“[She] left port in Salem in New Jersey [yesterday] and it should be here Saturday morning, so everything is open for business in New Jersey on our part,” the spokesman said.Arrangements have been made for Hamilton’s docks to be open for the delivery of on-board containers between 9am and 4.30pm. The ship is hoped to return to New Jersey by November 6 and return to Bermuda on November 9, putting her back on schedule the following week.The Somers Isles, which travels between Bermuda and Florida, is expected to arrive in Bermuda on Wednesday, a week behind schedule.The Explorer of the Seas arrived in Bermuda yesterday after a handful of cruise ships had their visits cancelled by the storm.The Regatta has cancelled a second scheduled stop this weekend.Ryan Whiting, a Bermudian studying in New York, said the city is still dealing with limited electricity and cell phone reception.“The windows of my apartment partially blew in on account of an upper balcony blowing off and striking it,” he said. “The entire window of a tenth floor apartment completely shattered. The upper balcony actually grazed a pedestrian who was, unwisely, outside.“Consequently, the front of my building is littered with shattered glass, and water has been leaking into my apartment.”Drivers have returned to the streets however with many traffic lights not working, the roads had become a “free-for-all”.“Bermuda would have handled this so much better. I wish I was back home,” he said.

A flooded escalator in the South Ferry station of the No. 1 subway line, in lower Manhattan, after Superstorm Sandy passed through New York.