JWR,
I don't live anywhere near the affected area from Sandy, but now that we've had some firsthand accounts, I wanted to throw in my $.02 as an observer from afar:
When the storm hit, I defaulted to the main stream news channels and sites, which got old and repetitive quickly without being very informative. To get a better feel for the local perspective, I resorted to my smart phone's 5-0 police radio app. By bouncing around and listening in on the various police, fire, and EMS dispatch feeds from Northeast counties and cities, I was able to get a better feel for the ground truth around the region and was also able to learn how "the authorities" prioritized their response to various incidents.