Northeast faces long road back in Sandy's wake; death toll at 50 New York City had not been hit with the kind of flooding caused by Superstorm Sandy in more than half a century. Scott Pelley spoke with CBS News hurricane consultant David Bernard to see what records Sandy broke. BEACH HAVEN, N.J. - Sandy's departure from the Northeast on Tuesday brought no hint of relief, revealing instead a tableau of splintered trees, severed beaches, shuttered businesses, and the harsh reality that the storm will test even the most hardened resolve in weeks to come. The U.S. death toll rose to 50, including three children, and estimates of the property damage soared to $20 billion, which would make Sandy among the nation's costliest natural disasters. More than 8 million homes and businesses in 17 states were without power, half of them in New York and New Jersey. Some outages could stretch into next week. In the beach community of Breezy Point in Queens, 110 homes were destroyed by a ferocious electrical fire that injured three people. All that remained of many homes were ashen foundations and concrete stoops that once led to front doors. Inland, "thundersnow" blizzards buried more than half of West Virginia, where the roofs of some houses began to collapse. Iconic pieces of the Jersey Shore, said Gov. Chris Christie, were "washed into the ocean." The subway system was flooded and closed for a second day. Weather also closed the New York Stock Exchange for the second day in a row - the first time that had happened since 1888. Normal trading was expected to resume Wednesday. No red tape," said President Obama, who called off a third day of campaigning for next week's election and prepared to visit storm zones with Christie, a Republican, on Wednesday. Obama unlocked federal money for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut with a major-disaster declaration, skipping post-storm assessments and signing the paperwork even as the tail end of Sandy remained overhead. Christie asked Obama to speed up the declaration process "without all the normal FEMA mumbo-jumbo," and the president agreed - finding the sufficient damage threshold self-evident, officials said. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood made $13 million in quick-release emergency funding available to New York and Rhode Island - the first two states that asked for it - to begin repairing roads, bridges and tunnels. Camaraderie was apparent throughout the region. At a hospital in Manhattan, people formed a human chain to pass fuel up to the 13th floor, the only way to keep an emergency generator operating. Power companies were working feverishly, and in some cases - suburban Pennsylvania, for example - restored power to residences five days earlier than expected. Diane Vanderhorn, 46, hiked into Beach Haven, N.J., to learn the state of her little blue bungalow. Neighbors were leaving, dazed and carrying shopping bags full of clothes. "You been back yet?" one asked. Vanderhorn said she had not; the man shook his head and kept walking. As she got closer, she saw trash cans rolling in the street, a boat grounded near an intersection. When she stepped inside the house, the rug squished under her feet. Sandy had flooded her home with seawater and filled her boyfriend's black sedan to the dashboard. Vanderhorn cried. She broke down in sobs. I've got three kids. Where are we going to go? There's no money. In Berkeley Heights, N.J., west of New York, the power was out all day, except for along a narrow strip of roadway that included Benham's Garage. A crush of cars and people, some toting red gasoline cans, lined up for the remaining drops before Benham's ran dry. "We're the only game in town, and we won't last much longer," said Bob Kaiser, a barrel-chested attendant clutching a wad of cash, as the last gasoline from one pump ran out before a customer's gas can could be filled.