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But Glenda Moore and her SUV were no match for the epic storm. Moore's Ford Explorer stalled in the rising tide, and the rushing waters snatched 2-year-old Brandon and 4-year-old Connor from her arms as they tried to escape.

The youngsters' bodies were recovered from a marsh Thursday - the latest, most gut-wrenching blow in New York's Staten Island, an isolated city borough hard-hit by the storm and yet, residents say, largely forgotten by federal officials assessing damage of the monster storm that has killed more than 90 people in 10 states.

"Terrible, absolutely terrible," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said as he announced the boys' bodies had been found on the third day of a search that included police divers and sniffer dogs. "It just compounds all the tragic aspects of this horrific event."

The heartbreaking discovery came as residents and public officials complained that help has been frustratingly slow to arrive on stricken Staten Island, where 19 have been killed - nearly half the death toll of all of New York City.

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New Yorkers on the state's food stamp program receive money for food necessities electronically, through Electronic Benefit Cards (EBTs). However, with Manhattan from 39th Street southward in power blackout along with parts of Brooklyn, most stores are only able to sell goods for cash. Power is expected to return by Saturday.

In a WNYC report (listen below) a resident of a Lower East Side public-housing complex in Manhattan explained, "The supermarkets don’t even really want to sell anything. They’re open but if you don’t have cash, you messed up. And everybody in these projects, they take EBT … food stamps.” [h/t Colorlines]

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Some pundits predict that, with an ongoing power blackout south of midtown, uncleared floodwaters elsewhere and half of subway lines still suspended, the normally extensive lines that attend Apple product launches will be greatly decreased for Friday's launch. The post-hurricane may thus serve as a referendum on people's desire (or desperation) for the product -- essentially a shrunken iPad, which is more expensive than its tablet competitors.

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Since the setup of the "Occupy Sandy Relief NYC" Facebook page (which has accrued over 2,000 "likes") and the proliferation of the Twitter hashtag #SandyAid to spread information, on-the-ground work has begun. OWS has teamed up with environmental group 350.org (responsible for the Times Square "end climate silence" demo on Sunday) and disaster relief platform Recovers.org to coordinate efforts. They have established drop-off points throughout Brooklyn to collect items including clothes, candles, flashlights, batteries, water and food. The volunteers started in Manhattan's blacked-out Lower East side and have been moving through New York's five boroughs.

As Allison Kilkenny noted on her Nation blog:

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Commuters lined up at Penn Station to board uptown trains at 6 a.m. Technology worker Ronnie Abraham was on one of them, hoping to get home to Harlem, a trip that is 20 minutes by train and 2 1/2 hours by bus.

"It's the lifeline of the city," Abraham said. "It can't get much better than this."

Ray Dunn, a paramedic, was trying to get work in the Bronx for the first time since the storm barreled up the East Coast, killing more than 70 people, devastating coastal communities and leaving millions without power from New Jersey to the West Virginia mountains.

"There's no way to get to work unless you drive," said Dunn, who doesn't own a car.

After reopening its airports, theaters and stock exchange, city officials hoped the subways would ease the gridlock that had paralyzed the city, forcing cars and pedestrians to inch through crowded streets without working stoplights. But television footage Thursday showed heavy traffic crawling into Manhattan, as police turned away cars that carried fewer than three people - a rule meant to ease the congestion that paralyzed the city earlier this week.

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The devastation left the state a blank canvas to redevelop its prized vacation towns. But environmentalists and shoreline planners urged the state to think about how - and if - to redevelop the shoreline as it faces an even greater threat of extreme weather.

"The next 50 to 100 years are going to be very different than what we've seen in the past 50 years," said S. Jeffress Williams, a scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey's Woods Hole Science Center in Massachusetts.

The sea level is rising fast, and destructive storms are occurring more frequently, said Williams, who expects things to get even worse.

He and other shoreline advocates say the state should consider how to protect coastal areas from furious storms when they rebuild it, such as relocating homes and businesses farther from the shore, building more seawalls and keeping sand dunes high.

How to rebuild after the disaster is becoming an issue even as New Jersey assesses its damage.

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After consulting Bob Sullivan, the author of "Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants", the Daily Beast thinks yes: "Sandy isn’t likely to have put much of a dent in the city’s rat problem. If anything, the hurricane may have made things worse." The Daily Beast writes:

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Although the fire was a false alarm, Alemany, along with hundreds of patients, had to be evacuated immediately. Alemany received a low-dose epidural administered by the light of her husband's cell phone, then had to be carried down eight flights of stairs while undergoing painful contractions.

An ambulance driver drafted in from California, along with a nurse, drove four miles north to Mount Sinai Hospital during the worst of the storm, but arrived at the hospital in time for Alemany to deliver her child. "I never thought his birth would be anything like this,’ she said. "It was the most intense experience of my life."

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During a conference call Tuesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski reported that, as of Tuesday morning, 25 percent of the nation’s cell sites were out of commission, in a 10-state stretch from Virginia to Massachusetts. "They’re underwater, or out of power, or just plain busted. Most of the outages are concentrated in the areas where the storm damage was worst," noted The Observer's BetaBeat.

Genachowski said we are not over the worst of this aspect of Sandy fallout. Cell towers, which lost power form local electricity, have been forced to rely on backup batteries to keep communications going. But as those batteries drain without any way to recharge, more cell phones will be forced out of service. "Our assumption is that communications outages could get worse before they get better, particularly for mobile networks, because of the flooding and loss of power,” he said.

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Limited commuter rail service on Metro-North and the Long Island Railroad will resume at 2pm Wednesday on Metro-North and the Long Island Railroad. Keep up to date on which trains are running here.

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"Sandy destroyed Seaside — our second home," Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi told MTV News in a statement. "It's devastating to see our boardwalk and favorite spots ruined. My prayers go out to everyone affected by the storm."

Jenni "JWoww" Farley appeared on the "Tonight Show," and host Jay Leno asked about the house she owns with her fiance, Roger, in Toms River.

"Fixable, I want to say. It's really, it like hurts the heart a lot. It's really kind of devastating," she said. But as long as like my dogs, Roger's safe, my friends are safe, we're just all without power."

Vinny Guadagnino told MTV that Seaside Heights had become his second home, while Paul "Pauly D" DelVecchio sent thanks to the "heroes" who were working to help. Sammi Giancola called the impact "devastating."

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But while New York City buses returned to darkened streets and the New York Stock Exchange prepared to reopen its storied trading floor, it became clear that restoring the region to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days - and that rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks that link them together could take considerably longer.

"We will get through the days ahead by doing what we always do in tough times - by standing together, shoulder to shoulder, ready to help a neighbor, comfort a stranger and get the city we love back on its feet," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

The scale of the challenge was clear across the Hudson River in New Jersey, where National Guard troops arrived in the heavily flooded city of Hoboken to help evacuate thousands still stuck in their homes. And new problems arose when firefighters were unable to reach blazes rekindled by natural gas leaks in the heavily hit shore town of Mantoloking.

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“This will be a large, costly relief response and we need help now,” said Charley Shimanski, senior vice president of Disaster Services for the Red Cross, in a release. Shimanksi urged that people donate funds to the relief efforts. More information about giving money and donating blood to the Red Cross can be found here. According to the organization, "nearly 100 Red Cross blood drives have already been canceled due to the storm, and there could be more as the week goes on. This means a loss of as many as 3,200 blood and platelet products." The charity noted, "If anyone is eligible, especially in places not affected by the storm, they are asked to please schedule a blood donation now." The New York Blood Center is also asking for blood donations to prevent shortages.

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As Salon noted Monday night, the explosion knocked out power for 230,000 to 250,000 residents in parts of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Times updated information on the blast Tuesday:

In the two hours before the explosion, Con Edison officials purposefully turned off all power to two small sections of the financial district in Lower Manhattan and in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn. Power to those areas could be restored in three or four days after utility crews pump out floodwater and dry and repair equipment below ground, said Bob McGee, a spokesman for Con Edison. But he said it may take longer to restore power to customers whose service was interrupted by the explosion.

John Miksad, the company’s senior vice president for electric operations, said, “This is the largest storm-related outage in our history.”

Con Edison officials believed the explosion was caused by water flooding the substation but had not ruled out flying debris, the spokesman said.

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But GOP strategist Jon Bonjean stuck by Romney's previous guns during a CNN interview. The Washington mainstay said Romney was "right on the button" when it came to dismantling FEMA. And despite the fact that FEMA teams Monday provided emergency power generators and helped secure key power grids, alongside other emergency relief work, Bonjean seemed oblivious of the agency's on-the-ground work: "I don’t think anybody cares about that [FEMA] right now. I think people care about whether or not their power’s on, whether or not their basement’s going to be flooded," he said.

Watch the interview clip below [h/t Think Progress]:

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CAROLINAS

North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue expanded a state of emergency to western North Carolina, which could see a foot of snow. A woman who was pulled from the Atlantic after abandoning a tall ship died. Power outages: 6,600.

CONNECTICUT

The Long Island Sound flooded roads as the storm toppled trees and power lines Two people died, including an Easton firefighter who was killed when a tree fell on his truck. Power outages: More than 615,000.

DELAWARE

Nearly all residents of flood-prone coastal communities in Kent County heeded calls to evacuate. The Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach resort communities were flooded. Power outages: More than 45,000.

ILLINOIS

High wind warnings and a lakeshore flood warning are in effect Tuesday and Wednesday in Chicago. City officials said Lake Shore Drive is expected to remain open.

KENTUCKY

A winter storm warning is in effect for three southeastern counties until Wednesday. In some areas, winds could gust up to 50 mph through Tuesday.

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