NEW YORK (TIP): The nor’easter that stymied recovery efforts from Superstorm Sandy pulled away from New York and New Jersey Thursday, leaving hundreds of thousands of new people in darkness after a blanket of thick, wet snow snapped storm-weakened trees and downed power lines. From Brooklyn to storm-battered sections of the Jersey shore and Connecticut, about 750,000 customers in the region were without power in temperatures near freezing, some living for days in the dark.

Throughout Staten Island’s beach area, the storm had blanketed growing piles of debris with several inches of snow. By mid-morning, it was starting to melt, filling the streets with filthy sludge. Roads in New Jersey and New York City were clear for the morning commute but there were traffic snarls on many roads. And rail lines into New York were not running smoothly. The nor’easter, as anticipated, brought gusting winds, rain and snow, but not the flooding that was anticipated