People in cars and on foot line up for free gas in the Jamaica neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Trucks provided by the U.S. Department of Defense at the direction of President Barack Obama at this site and others were deployed in coordination with the New York National Guard at the direction of the governor. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
People in cars and on foot line up for free gas in the Jamaica neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. Trucks provided by the U.S. Department of Defense at the direction of President Barack Obama at this site and others were deployed in coordination with the New York National Guard at the direction of the governor. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
New Jersey state troopers keep order as motorist line up to purchase gasoline at the Thomas A. Edison service area on the New Jersey Turnpike Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, near Woodbridge, N.J. From storm-scarred New Jersey to parts of Connecticut, a widespread lack of gasoline added to the frustration since Superstorm Sandy passed through the area. Gas rationing was to starting at noon Saturday in northern New Jersey, where drivers will be allowed to buy it only every other day. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Volunteer Christina Wilson, left, helps clean up the kitchen of the Ventura family, which was flooded during Superstorm Sandy, Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Staten Island, N.Y. A Superstorm Sandy relief fund is being created just for residents of the hard-hit New York City borough. Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Borough President James Molinaro say the fund will help residents displaced from their homes. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
New Jersey state troopers keep order as motorist line up to purchase gasoline at the Thomas A. Edison service area on the New Jersey Turnpike Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, near Woodbridge, N.J., before a noon switch to a gas rationing system in 12 counties ordered by Gov. Chris Christie. Drivers with license plates ending in an even number will be allowed to buy gas on even-numbered days, and those with plates ending in an odd number can make gas purchases on odd-numbered days. Christie says it will help ease fuel shortages and extended lines for gasoline that have occurred since Superstorm Sandy decimated the coast. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
A utility crew works to restore power on Long Beach Island, N.J., Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, after communities on the island sustained damage from Superstorm Sandy. Frustration is setting in for some New Jersey residents who are still without power and running low on food. Some residents say too much attention is being paid to the Shore and not enough to working people who are hurting. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Storm victims went to church Sunday to pray for relief and give thanks for their deliverance as cold weather settling in across the New York metropolitan area compounded the misery for people already struggling with severe gasoline shortages and power outages.
Hundreds of parishioners in parkas, scarves and boots packed the pews and stood in the aisles for Mass at a chilly Church of St. Rose in flood-ravaged Belmar, N.J., where the floodwaters had receded but the streets were slippery with foul-smelling mud. Firefighters and police officers sat in the front rows and drew applause.
Roman Catholic Bishop David O'Connell of the Trenton Diocese said he had no good answer for why God would allow the destruction that Superstorm Sandy caused.
But he assured parishioners: "There's more good, and there's more joy, and there's more happiness in life than there is the opposite. And it will be back. And we will be back."
With temperatures dipping into the 30s overnight and about 700,000 homes and businesses in New York City, its northern suburbs and Long Island still without electricity six days after the storm, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned that many homes are becoming uninhabitable and that tens of thousands of people are going to need other places to stay.
Over the weekend, the city opened warming shelters in areas without power and Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged elderly people without heat to move to them. The city also began handing out 25,000 blankets to those who insisted on staying in their homes.
"I spoke with many people who were worried and frustrated and cold," Bloomberg said Saturday. "There is no power there and temperatures are dropping. Even those who have generators are having a hard time getting fuel."
He added: "Please, I know sometimes people are reticent to take advantage of services. The cold really is something that is dangerous."
After the abrupt cancellation of Sunday's New York City Marathon, some of those who had been planning to run the 26.2-mile race through the city streets instead headed to hard-hit Staten Island to help storm victims.
Thousands of other runners from such countries as Italy, Germany and Spain poured into Central Park to hold impromptu races of their own. A little more than four laps through the park amounted to a marathon.
"A lot of people just want to finish what they've started," said Lance Svendsen, organizer of a group called Run Anyway.
Though New York and New Jersey bore the brunt of the destruction, at its peak, the storm reached 1,000 miles across, killed more than 100 people in 10 states, knocked out power to 8.5 million homes and businesses and canceled nearly 20,000 flights. Damage has been estimated $50 billion, making Sandy the second most expensive storm in U.S. history, behind Hurricane Katrina.
More than 900,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey were still without electricity.
With fuel deliveries cut off by storm damage and many metropolitan-area gas stations lacking the electricity needed to operate their pumps, drivers waited in line for hours for a chance at a fill-up, snapping at each other and honking their horns in frustration.
At a gas station in Mount Vernon, N.Y., north of New York City, 62 cars were lined up around the block Sunday morning even though it was closed and had no fuel.
"I heard they might be getting a delivery. So I came here and I'm waiting," said the first driver in line, Earl Tuck. He had been there at least two hours by 9 a.m., and there was no delivery truck in sight. But he said he would stick it out.
The cashier at the station, Ahmed Nawaz, said he wasn't sure when the pumps might be running again. "We are expecting a delivery. But yesterday we weren't expecting one, and we got one. So I don't know," he said.
Bloomberg said that resolving the gas shortages could take days. Across northern New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie imposed odd-even gas rationing that recalled the gasoline crisis of the 1970s.
Fears of crime, especially at night in darkened neighborhoods, persisted. Officers in the Midland Beach section of Staten Island early Saturday saw a man in a Red Cross jacket checking the front doors of unoccupied houses and arrested him on a burglary charge.
After complaints about people posing as utility workers to gain access to people's homes, police on Long Island reminded residents that most repair work will be done outside so legitimate workers usually have no need to enter a home.
___
Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols in Wall, N.J.; Katie Zezima in Jersey City, N.J.; Jim Fitzgerald in Mount Vernon, N.Y.; and Verena Dobnik, AJ Connelly, Cara Anna and Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.
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