As the cold weather hits, thousands of homes in the United States remain without power as work crews struggle to pick up the pieces in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.
Temperatures have already reached overnight lows of one to four degrees Celsius in New York, its northern suburbs and Long Island. Even six days after the storm, about 650,000 homes in these areas still do not have electricity. In New Jersey, more than 900,000 homes and businesses are without power.
With temperatures falling, recovery crews are being called in and residents are being relocated.
The storm, which tore through New York and New Jersey, killed more than 100 people in 10 states. More than 8.5 million homes and businesses lost electricity and nearly 20,000 flights were cancelled. The damage is being estimated at nearly $50 billion -- the second-most expensive storm after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
As relief efforts carried on, U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican opponent Mitt Romney went back to the campaign trail.
"I know I look a little bit older, but I've got a lot of fight left in me," Obama told voters in New Hampshire. "We have come too far to turn back now. We have come too far to let our hearts grow faint. It's time to keep pushing forward."
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani lambasted the president, saying, 鈥淲e鈥檝e got gas lines now that are a mile long, we鈥檝e got bodies still being discovered and we鈥檝e got a president whose playing campaigner-in-chief.鈥�
New York City officials are beginning to offer shelter to residents living in areas without power and will be handing out 25,000 blankets to residents who choose to stay at home.
However, the looming problem of where to house the tens of thousands of people who could be without homes for weeks or months remains unresolved, with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo saying New York state is facing "a massive, massive housing problem."
According to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, up to 40,000 of the city鈥檚 residents may need to be relocated.
"I don't know that anybody has ever taken this number of people and found housing for them overnight," Bloomberg said.
"We don't have a lot of empty housing in this city," he added. "We're not going to let anybody go sleeping in the streets. ... But it's a challenge, and we're working on it."
While neither the mayor nor governor gave any indication of where people would be moved to, George W. Contreras, associate director of the emergency and disaster management program at Metropolitan College of New York, suggested the possibility of encampments being set up in open spaces like stadiums and parks.
"The amount of actual units the city might have in buildings is probably very limited, so I think people will be in FEMA shelters for a while," he said.
Canadians are also lending a hand to provide relief aid and help restore power. About a dozen Red Cross volunteers travelled to New York and New Jersey Saturday to provide food, shelter and clothing to residents.
Approximately 145 Ontario Hyrdro workers are currently stationed in Long Island, helping to restore power.
鈥淭his is a big job. We have had great experience of working in storm restoration in Canada and throughout the United States,鈥� Bill Nash, Hydro One front line manager, told 麻豆传媒 Channel.
Nash said the experience is reminiscent of the 1998 ice storm in Ontario and Quebec, when U.S. hydro workers travelled north to help with power restoration.
鈥淎 lot of the infrastructure up here is destroyed. You鈥檝e got a lot of people working hard trying to get it up and running,鈥� Nash said. His crew was expected to be in the U.S. for seven to 10 days but said that time frame is 鈥減retty optimistic鈥� now.
Storms are still expected to hit the region throughout the week, with a major storm forecast for the middle of the week.
"Prepare for more outages," said National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Pollina. "Stay indoors. Stock up again."
Media reports suggest residents fear ongoing crime in darkened areas, where some people are even posing as utility workers to gain access to homes. Ongoing gas shortages have even forced New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to impose gas rationing.
With the election looming, residents throughout the affected areas are also planning how to vote this coming Tuesday.
Christie announced New Jersey residents who are unable to get to a polling station will use an 鈥渙ld school paper ballot,鈥� which will be accessible by truck and secured by the National Guard.
Other residents are criticizing the government for not delaying the vote or allowing people to cast their ballots the next day. While it is unclear how all residents will be able to vote, options such as email and internet ballots have been suggested.
-- With files from The Associated Press and CTV鈥檚 Atlantic Bureau Chief Todd Battis
