IRISH survivors of the deadly Superstorm Sandy have told how the their neighbourhoods have been ravaged.
Over 50 people have lost their lives along the east coast of the US.
The hurricane was making its way north to Canada last night.
Rose Erin Loughran, 36, told of her horror after her next door neighbour, father-of-four Jeff Channing, 51, was CRUSHED by a falling tree in his sitting room.
Speaking from her home in Woodlawn, Bronx, she said: ?Our next door neighbours had a tree come through the back of their house into their living room and kill their father.
?It was just a boom and a tree coming straight through the house.?
She added: ?They were doing all the right things. They were sitting in their living room like (Mayor) Bloomberg told them to.
Speaking on the Ray D?Arcy Show on Today FM, stunned Erin said: ?A lot of people are without power. You just see blocks of darkness in a city that is known for 23-hour light.
?I?m fortunate enough to have my electricity back but my family live in Pearl River across the bridge and they are still without power along with about five million other people.
?The aftermath of Sandy is clearly visible everywhere you look. There are trees with gigantic roots pulled out of the ground, smashed onto homes and cars, everywhere you look there?s destruction from the storm.
?About 100 houses out in Queens were destroyed with fire.?
Elsewhere, barman Philip Ward, 29, originally from Dublin?s inner city, but living in an apartment on the upper east side of Manhattan, told how giant trees came crashing down around his home.
He told the Irish Sun: ?I was pretty frightened at first, with the sound of those winds and all the trees being knocked down outside my apartment.
?My family and friends were very worried and concerned about me but were happy when I got through to them to tell them I was safe and sound.?
The barman has been stuck at home since because his pub was submerged in water.
He told the Irish Sun: ?I have not been able to go to work because my bar is in section A, which was hit the worst.
?The kitchen is still flooded and the bar has no power.
?Thank God I have been able to leave my apartment and walk around and have not been affected by a power cut at home.
?But since all the subways are cancelled there?s really nothing we can do other than stay at home, cook, drink, watch movies and play board games.?
Meanwhile, a Limerick man has told how his dream holiday to New York was ruined by the freak storm.
David Lee, 27, from Limerick City, arrived on Sunday with his mother for a Christmas shopping spree.
But the pair were forced to stay inside their hotel on Times Square because almost all of the bars, shops and restaurants are shut.
David said last night: ?We arrived on Sunday and the subway system was still working. But from Monday onwards it?s just been a disaster.
?On Monday night Times Square was like a ghost town and 57th Street was all closed off because a crane collapsed.
?The subway is shut down so you can?t go anywhere, you can?t shop anywhere, so basically you can?t do anything.
?All the Broadway shows were cancelled. I had a whole itinerary with what I was going to do when I got here.
?But we?ve just been sitting around in the hotel room. We went to whatever bar or restaurant was open but there were very few of them, and it was very hard to get to them.?
He added: ?My mam?s way of looking at it is that we?re still healthy.
?I think the only shopping we?ll be doing will be at the airport.?
?We were supposed to fly home tonight but as of now I still don?t know if my flight is cancelled or not.?
In Breezy Point, the furthest point of Queens, 111 houses burnt down and hundreds more were left severely damaged.
It is heavily populated by Irish-American firefighters and cops and was also devastated after 9/11 when the area lost 32 of their own.
City Council President Christine Quinn paid tribute to people she met on a tour of the devastated area.
She said: ?All they wanted to say was they need help with their rebuilding permit, That shows their Irish spirit and heart and determination to rebuild.?
According to the 2010 Census, Breezy Point has the highest numbers of Irish-Americans in the States at 60.3 per cent.
Source: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/irishsun/irishsunnews/4620508/The-Eire-of-the-storm.html
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