The worst of Hurricane Sandy may be over, but her wrath is far from over. More than 3.7 million homes and businesses along the U.S. East Coast remained without power on Friday. Residents of Staten Island are growing increasingly frustrated with their lack of attention from city officials. And gas shortages continue to drive tempers high for many in the outer boroughs of New York and New Jersey.

Gasoline shortages

Acute gasoline shortages in New York's outer boroughs and New Jersey - areas hits especially hard by the storm - led to long lines and short tempers Nov. 2. Tankers finally began entering New York Harbor on Nov. 1, and a tanker carrying 2 million barrels of gasoline arrived at 2 a.m. Nov. 2, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said, reported the New York Daily News.

"The police are stopping people who are trying to cut in the line," said Steven Golub, 53, speaking to Yahoo News. "There's no gas anywhere else. There was a guy with diplomatic plates who tried to cut in the line and one of the cab drivers complained so the police actually stopped him."

Police maintained a strong presence at many gas stations to keep the peace between frustrated drivers. In one instance, a man who attempted to cut in line was charged with threatening another driver with a gun on Nov. 1 in the borough of Queens, reported The New York Daily News.

"When people cut the line, people are about to stone them," said Chris Allegretta to Yahoo News. Allegretta had stood in line for 90 minutes with a gas can at a filling station in Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.

Less than 40 percent of all gas stations in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey operated on Nov. 1 because of a combination of power outages and constricted supplies after the storm devastated the energy industry's ability to move fuel into and around the New York City region.

Death toll

According to New York Daily News, Sandy, which brought a record storm surge to coastal areas, killed at least 102 people after slamming into the Eastern Seaboard. Making landfall near Atlantic City N.J. Oct. 29, 41 people died in New York City alone, about half of them in Staten Island, which was overrun by a towering wall of water.

FEMA, MTA praised

"The president has been outstanding in this and so have the folks at FEMA," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Oct. 30 on NBC's "Today" show. Officials from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York and other storm-struck states have also praised the federal agency's performance.

"My impression is that this is a different agency than we've seen over the last decades, one that post-Katrina had lost a lot of credibility," said Joseph E. Trainor, an assistant professor with the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware.

Trainor added that the FEMA-led pre-positioning of equipment and supplies and the "unprecedented" federal major disaster declaration before the storm hit "shows a level of agility that didn't exist a couple of years ago."

Head of FEMA, administrator W. Craig Fugate "is very well-grounded in the history and science of disaster management," said James Kendra, director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware. "He has a lot of regard for first-responders and looking at disasters from the community perspective."

Similarly, Jon Stewart of TV show "The Daily Show" praised the MTA's handling of the subway crisis in New York City. The city's subway is the largest public tanportation system in the U.S., and officials have been updating local residents on restored service on an almost around-the-clock basis.

Gov. Cuomo said Con Edison may turn on power in lower Manhattan by the end of Friday, which would let the MTA start running trains from Brooklyn to Manhattan within hours.

The MTA is hopeful that the No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines and trains that travel over the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges -- the B,D,N, Q, J, M and Z -- will have Brooklyn-Manhattan service by the dawn of Saturday, the New York Daily News reported.

"If Con Ed is correct and they repower downtown Manhattan...you'll see more trains coming on line," Cuomo said.

The 3, B, C, E, G and Q trains were still out Nov. 2.

Staten Island residents infuriated

Amid angry claims by some survivors that the borough had been ignored, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Federal Emergency Management Agency Deputy Administrator Richard Serino made plans to visit Staten Island Nov. 2.

Local officials and residents of Staten Island complained Nov. 1 of a slow government response, prompting pledges from members of Congress that more help would be coming.

"A lot of people doubt the capacity of government to learn from past mistakes, but the evidence so far in this case is that there has been learning on the part of the federal government on how to prepare for disasters," said Edward Alden, director of the Renewing America Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations.

"They forgot about us," said 42-year-old Theresa Connor describing her Staten Island neighborhood as having been "annihilated." "And Bloomberg said New York is fine. The marathon is on," she said, referring to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Fury has been escalating throughout New York at Bloomberg's decision to proceed with the marathon on Sunday, vowing the event - which attracts more than 40,000 runners - would not divert any resources storm victims.

"I just walked past four huge generators. Those could be put to use for people who need them," said Marjorie Dial, a tourist from Oregon who was shocked to see the generators in Central Park, where the marathon finishes. "What they've discovered on Staten Island should have been the tipping point - the bodies."

"If they take one first responder from Staten Island to cover this marathon, I will scream," New York City Councilman James Oddo said on his Twitter account.

New Jersey benefit concert on NBC

In response to the widespread devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy, the networks of NBCUniversal -- including NBC, Bravo, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, Style, Syfy and USA - will join forces to air a one-hour live benefit telethon, "Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together," on Friday, November 2 (8-9 pm ET).

Money collected will be donated to the American Red Cross relief efforts for Hurricane Sandy.

The event will feature performances by artists including Christina Aguilera (NBC's "The Voice"), Jon Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and Sting, and appearances by Jimmy Fallon (NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon") and NBC News' Brian Williams.

Matt Lauer will host the event.

Red Cross

The American Red Cross response to Sandy is very large, and thus, will be very costly, affecting a massive area spanning much of the eastern half of the U.S. Financial donations help the American Red Cross provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to those affected by disasters like Hurricane Sandy.

To donate, visit www.redcross.org , call 1-800-RED-CROSS or text the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation.

"The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission," according to the organization's website.