Article updated: 11/2/2012 8:42 AM

Isolated NYC borough says help is slow after Sandy

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Brooke Clarkin tries to salvage some personal items from her mother's home in Staten Island, New York, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. Her mother's home was not only flooded to the ceiling, but was swept off its foundation and was carried to the other side of the street. The National Guard and federal emergency management officials will deliver 1 million meals and bottled water to New York areas hardest hit by Superstorm Sandy.

Associated Press

Tunisia Wragg, a staff member with New York Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, checks a cellphone at a charging station that the assemblyman's office brought to Confucius Plaza in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York, N.Y., Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012, in the wake of superstorm Sandy. Hundreds of thousands in New York City alone were still without power Thursday, especially in Lower Manhattan, which remained in the dark roughly south of the Empire State Building after floodwaters had knocked out power.

Associated Press

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Grace Chow, 22, of New York, pours water from one bucket to another for a resident on the twentieth floor at Confucius Plaza in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York, Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, power outages have also meant loss of water for some buildings. Chow and Matthew Hom, 26, also of New York, are volunteering for the New York United Dragon and Lion Dance group.

Associated Press

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Residents and public officials say help has been frustratingly slow to arrive on stricken Staten Island, where 19 have been killed — nearly half the death toll of all of New York City. Garbage is piling up, a stench hangs in the air and mud-caked mattresses and couches line the streets. Residents are sifting through the remains of their homes, searching for anything that can be salvaged.