Sandy storm evacuee: 'I don't know if my home survived'

Caroleanne Gravert, a librarian from Long Island, New York left her home by the beach on Sunday evening.

Stranded in an apartment in Manhattan's East Village with no power and no phone reception she still has no idea how her house fared when Superstorm Sandy struck.

Caroleanne walked miles up town on Tuesday morning to charge her phone. She checked her Facebook page and discovered that two of her neighbours' homes had been destroyed: one by fire, the other swept away by the water.

"I don't know what's the state of my house", she says. "Not knowing is the worst".

Caroleanne has two grown up daughters who do not live in NYC.

"I just hope that I can get back to my house and rescue the photos of my children when they were little".

In the aftermath of the storm, the BBC also spoke to other New Yorkers about how they are coping.

Produced by Anna Bressanin; camera by Ilya Shnitser