Even FEMA offices shut 'due to bad weather' after snow storm batters Sandy victims and leaves thousands stranded and without power

FEMA stations shut down in storm, inflicting yet more misery for families affected by Superstorm Sandy last week

Nearly 60,000 customers in New York and New Jersey who lost power in storm have now lost it again

Storm dumped up to nine inches of snow across New Jersey



Transit systems lurched to a halt while thousands of flights were cancelled



Mayor Bloomberg evacuated elderly residents in at-risk areas and urged New Yorkers to stay inside during the storm

A strong Nor'easter last night dumped heavy snow on the same region that was pummeled by Superstorm Sandy last week - even forcing FEMA to shut its doors to families in need.



The federal agency shuttered its recovery centers, which were set up to offer assistance to those most affected by the monster storm, and the Staten Island office closed 'due to bad weather'.

The Nor'easter rattled the East Coast with high winds and piles of wet, slushy snow on Wednesday - leaving thousands of Sandy victims without power just after it had been restored.



Adding to the mess, the three major airports in the tri-state area closed, commuter trains slowed service, and mass transit lurched to a halt, inflicting another round of misery on the city’s residents.

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Out of business: The FEMA center closed in Tottenville in Staten Island, New York after the snow storm

In deep: Ted Lawrie shovels snow out of his driveway in Walpole, Massachusetts. As many as eight inches fell in the state overnight when the Nor'easter ravaged Sandy-hit areas Battle: A woman clears snow in Dover Township, New Jersey, a week after Sandy battered the state

Frozen: The snow storm halted transit systems in New Jersey and New York City on Wednesday

The storm dropped nearly four inches of snow in Central Park, which areas of southern New Jersey suffered more than 9 inches, the National Weather Service said.

Residents from Connecticut to Rhode Island were also slammed with up to six inches of snow, while areas of Massachusetts had a whopping eight inches.

Carrying gusts of 60mph, the storm brought down tree limbs and electrical wires damaged by Sandy. Utilities across the two states in New York and New Jersey reported that nearly 60,000 customers who lost power in the superstorm lost it again.

'It's Mother Nature's one-two punch,' Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, New Jersey, told CNN . 'It's testing the resolve and the grit of my state and my city and, obviously, this region.'

Wreckage: Snow from the Nor'Easter storm coats homes burned in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy in Breezy Point, Queens

Nothing left: Damon Rasinya carts debris from his family home past the fire-scorched landscape of Breezy Point

A tree grows in Queens: A fire-scorched tree stands in the landscape of Breezy Point after the Nor'easter

Spluttering back to life: Workers clear snow near tracks of the Long Island Railroad, which closed yesterday

In the cold: James Latus plays with his dog Jersey along the Hudson River on Thursday morning Determined: People wait on line to buy gasoline the enduring shortages following Hurricane Sandy

Brutal: A woman walks in the snow during the nor'easter in Jersey City, New Jersey on Wednesday night Shut down: People walk through snow as it accumulates in the Rockaway Beach neighborhood of Queens; the area was badly damaged by Sandy only 10 days ago Onslaught: An NYPD van broadcasts the location of shelters over a loudspeaker in Rockaway Park, Queens Carrying on: A man shovels snow caused by a nor'easter storm in the Lower East Side of New York

IN THE DARK - AGAIN: STORM CUTS POWER FOR THOUSANDS MORE

Power outages in New York and New Jersey inflicted by Sandy rose from 607,000 on Wednesday to 666,000 by early Thursday.

Affected Con Edison customers included 21,000 in Queens, 7,000 in Brooklyn, 4,000 in the Bronx, 3,900 in Staten Island and 140 in Manhattan. Public Service Electric & Gas reported 160,000 outages, with 40,000 caused by the storm. Jersey Central Power & Light has about 238,000 customers without power, while Atlantic City Electric reported more than 5,000 customers without power. The Long Island Power Authority said 200,000 customers were without power, with around 50,000 losing it in the new storm.

Mark L. Fendrick, of Staten Island, tweeted Wednesday night: 'My son had just got his power back 2 days ago now along comes this nor'easter and it's out again.'

John Miksad, senior vice president of electric operations at Consolidated Edison, the chief utility in New York City, said, 'I know everyone's patience is wearing thin.'

Eric Durr, a spokesperson for the New York National Guard to ld DNAInfo th at while he couldn’t comment on specific cases, the organization told its troops 'to pay attention to the weather and don’t take unnecessary risks.'

Under ordinary circumstances, a storm of this sort wouldn't be a big deal, but large swaths of the landscape were still an open wound, with the electrical system highly fragile and many of Sandy's victims still mucking out their homes and cars and shivering in the deepening cold.

Because of the storm, Penn Station in Manhattan was temporarily shut down - forcing stranded commuters into the cold.



The commuter rail, the Long Island Rail Road, was also closed on Wednesday evening, but has since been re-opened with limited service.

VIDEO: Heavy snow and wind brings new woes to hard-hit northeast

Haunting: A repair worker is silhouetted by a police spotlight as he walks down a darkened street in the Rockaways during the Nor'Easter

Howling: Snow blows past debris and non-functioning streetlights in Rockaway, 10 days after Sandy No recovery: A Con Edison emergency vehicle can be seen crashed into a barricade after the storm

Gated community: Patrons are directed away from the Long Island Railroad after it was closed

No service: The Long Island Railroad was suspended on Wednesday in anticipation of the storm

Airlines cancelled at least 1,300 U.S. flights in and out of the New York metropolitan area on Wednesday, causing a new round of disruptions that rippled across the country. And on the roads, icy conditions brought traffic to a crawl.

Despite this newly-inflicted chaos and slushy sidewalks across the tri-state area, schools across New York City opened on Thursday, including 43 schools still without power or damaged by Sandy.



Transit systems have also spluttered back to a start, with the Long Island Rail Road running all lines by 5am except for the Long Beach line.

Commuter traffic also reopened in the Holland Tunnel, where around 90,000 vehicles pass under the Hudson River between Manhattan and Jersey City, New Jersey.



Harsh weather: Homeowner Chris Brady stands by a wall of windows damaged by Hurricane Sandy to watch snow fall in Lindenhurst, New York on Wednesday

Always Ready, Always There: Members of the National Guard trudged through the snow as they cleaned up debris in the New Dorp section of Staten Island on Wednesday

Never ceasing: People clean debris from a home devastated by superstorm Sandy even as the winter storm hits Hoboken, New Jersey on Wednesday Misery: Frank Hlavaty stands by a pile of destroyed furniture outside his New Jersey home that was flooded by Superstorm Sandy as he gets snowed on Down and out: Andre Albertson of Staten Island carries clothes and supplies to his damaged home in New Dorp before the second storm Airlines at the city's airports were also scheduled to resume flights on Thursday, but officials warned travellers to check with their carriers ahead of the storm.

The states' utilities reported scattered outages on Thursday, with some customers complaining that they had just gotten their electricity back in the past two day or two, only to lose it again. Jane Murphy, a nurse, wondered, 'How much worse can it get?' as she cleaned the inside of her flooded-out car. The Long Island Power Authority said 200,000 customers were without power, with around 50,000 losing it in the new storm.

Con Edison reported the storm knocked out electricity to about 60,000 customers in New York City and Westchester County. On Thursday, these customers included 21,000 in Queens, 7,000 in Brooklyn, 4,000 in the Bronx, 3,900 in Staten Island and 140 in Manhattan.

Public Service Electric & Gas reported 160,000 outages, including 40,000 caused by the new storm.

Staying warm: A man delivers some gas in the snow to a neighbor for use in her generator in the New Dorp section of Staten Island, N.Y. on Wednesday as a new cold weather system moves in

Another storm: The storm left a blanket of snow on debris from superstorm Sandy in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey

Covered in snow: A woman navigates through the debris in her neighborhood in Staten Island

Helping hand: A man assists another climb down off a destroyed section of boardwalk after they checked the storm's approach as a nor'easter hits the Rockaway in Queens

Jersey Central Power & Light has about 238,000 customers without power, while Atlantic City Electric reported more than 5,000 customers without power.



The Nor'easter also cut a feed to a substation briefly on Wednesday night, knocking out power to 8,000 customers around East Brunswick, New Jersey.

Ahead of the storm, authorities had warned communities they could be pummeled by this latest bout of bad weather and in New York, police went to low-lying areas with loudspeakers, urging residents to leave.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg didn't issue mandatory evacuations, and many people stayed behind, some because they feared looting, others because they figured whatever happens couldn't be any worse than what they have gone through already.

'We're petrified,' said James Alexander, a resident of the hard-hit Rockaways section of Queens. 'It's like a sequel to a horror movie.'

Slushy mess: A mix of snow and rain falls down on the streets of New York City Wednesday, making driving even trickier

Crossroads of the world: People use umbrellas to shield themselves from the wintery mix in Times Square

Unlikely friendship: Henrik, left, a tourist visiting from Norway and John from Wayne, New Jersey build a snowman together in Times Square

The city manager in Long Beach, New York, urged the roughly 21,000 people who ignored previous mandatory evacuation orders in the badly damaged barrier-island city to get out.

More than 600 residents were moved from three nursing homes and an adult care facility in the Rockaway area in Queens amid fears that the weather would knock out electricity.

Public works crews in New Jersey built up dunes to protect the stripped and battered coast.

All construction in New York City was halted - a precaution that needed no explanation after a crane collapsed last week in Sandy's high winds and dangled menacingly over the streets of Manhattan.



Parks were closed because of the danger of falling trees. Drivers were advised to stay off the road after 5 p.m.

White October: People wait at at a bus stop in the wind and snow in New York's Times Square on Wednesday

Midtown: A woman covers up in New York's Times Square on Wednesday Storm: The Manhattan skyline was covered in fog as a nor'easter brought a cold weather system

Storm: A mother in Morristown, N.J. tries to shield her 3-year-old son from the wintery storm on Wednesday



Forecasters had said the nor'easter would bring moderate coastal flooding, with storm surges of about three feet possible Wednesday into Thursday - far less than the 8 to 14 feet Sandy hurled at the region. 'I am waiting for the locusts and pestilence next,' New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had said. 'We may take a setback in the next 24 hours.' Sandy killed more than 100 people in 10 states, with most of the victims in New York and New Jersey. On Tuesday, the death toll inched higher when a 78-year-old man died of a head injury, suffered when he fell down a wet, sandy stairwell in the dark, authorities said.

Long lines persisted at gas stations but were shorter than they were days ago. At the peak of the outages from Sandy, more than 8.5 million customers lost power. Before the nor'easter hit, that number was down to 675,000, nearly all of them in New Jersey and New York.

High winds: Wind gusts are expected to sweep through the Northeast

Gathering storm: A satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows the wet and windy nor'easter set to hit the Northeast

Winter: Furniture and other items left after being damaged during superstorm Sandy stand on a flooded street during snowfall from a nor'easter, also known as a northeaster storm, in Lindenhurst, New York