They have been set up in the boroughs offering assistance to those most affected by Superstorm Sandy.
Adding to the mess, the three major airports in the tri-state area haveclosed down, commuter trains have all but stopped service, and mass transit has lurched to a halt, inflicting another round of misery on the city's residents.
Some 13,000 homes and businesses from the Carolinas to New York lost power on Wednesday, adding to the 650,000 customers who still lacked electricity from one of the biggest and costliest storms ever to hit the United States.
New York and New Jersey evacuated the most vulnerable coastal areas ahead of the nor'easter, whose rain, strong winds and snow were hitting a large portion of the region.
"You have to prepare for the storm that's coming in a few hours," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told residents of his storm-battered state. "I'm waiting for the locusts and pestilence next," he joked, in a reference to Old Testament plagues.
