Sandy pummels West Virginia as grueling recovery begins on East Coast

Although some New York City ground transit and airports are coming back to life Wednesday, much of the country's biggest city remains paralyzed.

Meanwhile, New Jersey neighborhoods are still deluged under feet of water ahead of President Barack Obama's scheduled visit to the state Wednesday, CNN reports.

And states farther west are grappling with Superstorm Sandy's dramatic encore -- a blizzard that dumped 3 feet of snow in West Virginia and left hundreds of thousands in the shivering cold.

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The arduous road to recovery seems as formidable as Sandy itself.

Transportation mess slowly untangles

After days of canceled flights and stranded travelers, two New York-area airports -- John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty -- are scheduled to reopen Wednesday with limited service.

But New York's LaGuardia airport is expected to remain closed Wednesday because of significant damage.

The city's massive subway network will remain offline for several more days as workers try to recover the inundated underground lifeline. New York's bus service will resume a nearly full schedule Wednesday, but it probably won't accommodate the 5 million commuters who rely on the subway every day.

Is Sandy a taste of things to come?

Likewise, the transportation headaches in New Jersey are far from over.

The rail operations center of NJ Transit was crippled by 8 feet of water, and an emergency generator was submerged, officials said.

Floodwater damaged at least 65 locomotive engines and 257 rail cars. It will be weeks before service resumes on the New Jersey coastline.

"There is major damage on each and every one of New Jersey's rail lines," Gov. Chris Christie said. "Large sections of track were washed out."

Effects of the storm, state by state

Philadelphia commuters are more fortunate. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority said regional rail service will resume Wednesday morning.

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