STATEN ISLAND, NY (WTVR)–Although Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday announced the cancellation of the internationally known New York City Marathon race because boroughs were still reeling from Superstorm Sandy, thousands still ran and hundreds pitched in to help with recovery efforts.
Central Park, which would have hosted the finish for the race, was packed with runners from across the globe, reported Runner’s World Magazine. The magazine said that foot traffic was so heavy towards the end of the marathon course that anything faster than a walk was close to impossible.
So while there were no officials winners, empathetic efforts to help a devastated community put every at the front lines.
Runner’s World reported that hundreds of runners boarded morning ferries to Staten Island, many carrying supplies.
Falling temperatures on Sunday put more people at risk in a region already battling gasoline shortages, stubborn power outages and spasms of lawlessness in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
With overnight temperatures in the 30s and nearly a million people still without power in the area, New York City opened warming shelters in areas without power and Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged older residents without heat to move to them. The city also was handing out 25,000 blankets to residents who insist on staying in powerless homes, reported CBS news.
On Sunday morning New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said cold temperatures will leave “tens of thousands” of people whose homes have been damaged by Sandy needing other places to live, reported CBS news.
He said “it’s going to become increasingly clear” that homes without heat are uninhabitable as temperatures drop. He said that means that residents who have been reluctant to leave their homes will have to, and that they’ll need housing.
Bloomberg said the city expects that it will have to find housing for 30,000 to 40,000 people, reported CBS news. He also said that resolving gas shortages could take days.
The storm killed more than 100 people in 10 states, including 41 in New York City. More than 2.2 million customers in several states remain without power days after Sandy came ashore.
About 875,000 still don’t have electricity in the New York metropolitan area, including about 460,000 on Long Island.
*CBS interactive reporting contributed to this story
