Superstorm Sandy left the the Wall Street financial district and the rest of lower Manhattan without power and no firm idea when the lights will be turned on again.

The streets, many waist deep in floodwater, were eerily quiet after the storm, with the only sound coming from distant sirens and the only light cast by candles in apartment windows and the blue and red flashes of police cars.

"It's kind of scary. There is no light in the street, no people in the street," said Ilona, a 22-year-old student from Russia, as she looked out over the murky water.

Even the traffic lights were out. Special generator trucks were ordered in, and authorities reopened the George Washington bridge so some could be driven in from neighbouring New Jersey.

"We have been sent to provide power for buildings and answer the 911 emergency calls," the driver of one generator truck said.

Desperate owners sought to check on businesses, apartments and cars.

Olatz Schnabel, the former companion of the artist Julian Schnabel, rushed with her two sons to check whether her decoration shop had been flooded.

"The water did not get that far. We managed to get everything out of the cellar," she said.

But there was devastation, as floodwater poured into the city from the East River, inundating road tunnels and subway stations and threatening several days of transport chaos.