The busy Northeast travel corridor ground to a halt when the huge storm slammed into New Jersey Monday evening. Train tunnels flooded, power went out, and forecasts of high winds forced airlines to cancel thousands of flights.
Travelers and commuters were forced to cobble together ways to get home, or stay where they were.

But by Wednesday, the region's massive network of planes, trains and buses was slowly restarting.

Flights resumed at airports, including two of New York City's three major airports. Limited subway service is expected Thursday in the city.

Major rail service in the region remained largely suspended, however. While some commuter lines are expected back Wednesday afternoon, Amtrak's Northeast Regional service between Newark, N.J., and Boston is suspended and so is Acela Express service for the Northeast corridor. No date is set for resumption of that service.

Air travelers stranded by Sandy are a little closer to getting home. There are limited flights at John F. Kennedy International and Newark Liberty International. The city's third major airport, LaGuardia, is still closed as authorities assessed the damage from the huge storm. Travelers hoping to fly out of New York are being told to check with their airline before heading to the airport.

Airports in Washington and Philadelphia re-opened on Tuesday.

FlightStats said the storm had caused more than 19,000 cancellations since it began, including 2,820 cancellations in North America on Wednesday.

Delta was resuming some flights at JFK on Wednesday. But other airlines, including American and Southwest, both said they won't resume New York flights until Thursday.

LaGuardia was another story. Several airlines said they hoped to resume flying there on Thursday. But airport authorities said they don't know yet when LaGuardia will reopen.

"There are a lot of contingencies before we can re-open at LaGuardia," Southwest spokesman Paul Flaningan said. "It's still barricaded at the front entrance, which makes drop-offs from taxis and buses difficult."

Airlines continued to waive fees to change tickets for flights to New York airports. Delta and United said that anyone who planned to fly there through Saturday could change their ticket. However, the re-booked travel still had to begin by Nov. 9, giving travelers a relatively narrow window to make their trip.

American's waiver was broader, covering New York tickets through Nov. 7, and allowing rebooked travel through Dec. 20.

Amtrak said on Wednesday that it has restored train service to Newark airport. But service to and from New York's Penn Station was still not operating because tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers are flooded.

Neighbors Lucille Dwyer, right, and Linda Strong embrace after looking through the wreckage of their homes in Breezy Point on October 31, 2012.
Dozens of families returned to the tight-knit community of Breezy Point on the western edge of the Rockaway peninsula in Queens on Wednesday to assess the damage. They were confronted with scenes of utter devastation, with many houses still smoldering.

Homes that did not burn had major flood damage, and houses on waterfront suffered wind damage, with some homes blown off their foundations and smashed together.

Of the 2,800 homes in Breezy Point, 111 homes were completely destroyed, an FNDY officials said Wednesday. And 20 homes had some level of fire damage.

Though there were only a few minor injuries reported among residents and firefighters, officials have not ruled out the possibility that there may have been fatalities in Breezy Point, said Joe Downey, FDNY chief of special operations, who was conducting search and recovery on Wednesday.

The cause of the inferno, to which more than 200 firefighters responded, remains unclear, fire officials said.

Linda Strong, 59, a school secretary who has lived full time in Breezy Point for 37 years, said she and her son sunk $400,000 to renovate their home. The renovation was finished in August 2011.

“I’m trying to be strong,” she said. “We wanted to build a bigger, nicer home.”

“We will rebuild again because we love the community,” Strong added.

She and her son, John Strong, evacuated on Sunday with just a few things because they believed they would be returning soon.

“I thought we’d have water damage. That’s it,” she said. “This is beyond, beyond what we expected.”

“This was my dream house,” she said, noting that she and her son saved up for 10 years to pay for the renovation.

The only thing they found and they rummaged through the charred remains of the house on Wednesday was one live plant.

“We had it bad but we didn’t lose anybody,” said John Strong, 36, an IT worker. “We’re trying to take it one step at a time.”

For Dave and Regina Hegarty, both 69, the memories go back even further. They live in Garden City, L.I., and have had a summer home in Breezy Point since 1978. Dave is a retired teacher and Regina is a retired school guidance counselor.

On Wednesday, they combed through the black pit of sludge where they bungalow once stood. All they could see was the outline of the foundation.

The couple met in Breezy Point when Regina was 16 and Dave was 17. They fell in love and eventually got married.

“It’s our roots,” Dave Hegarty said. “We raised our five sons here. They were lifeguards in the summer.”

Every year, they spent four months in Breezy Point. “It’s 4 months of good friends,” he said.

They recently restored the 1930s-style, one-story bungalow and vowed to rebuild again.

“We’re going to rebuild even if we have to do it by hand,” Regina Hegarty said.

Lt. Michael Scotko, 23, a volunteer firefighter in Breezy Point, has lived in Breezy Point his entire life and he was among those who responded to the fire.

“Everything was burning. It was like the apocalypse,” Scotko said. “The worst part of it was none of the fire hydrants worked.”

“We could see it burning for about an hour and a half before we even got here,” he said, noting the area was blocked due to high tides.

“This could have taken out all of Breezy.”

“Everything was burning around you,” Scotko said. And the waves were so high that, “anyone that tried to get out of their house would be swept away by water.”

“There were waves breaking against the houses,” he said. “It was just like total destruction watching everything burn.”

Kiernan Carly, 22, a volunteer firefighter and bartender, said his home was flooded but didn’t burn.

“It was a giant blaze. It looked like a war zone,” Carly said. “We were walking through 3 to 4 feet of water to get to the fire and try to find fire hydrants that had pressure in them.”

“It’s a mess now. But it will look beautiful in a couple of months,” he said.