OPEN FOR BUSINESS: Visitors walk past by a giant advertisement along Fifth Avenue in New York City on November 1. Some businesses in Midtown Manhattan are resuming operations as power and public transportation are restored after Hurricane Sandy (WANG LEI)

In normal times the old armory building in one of Brooklyn's priciest neighborhoods is used as a fitness center. Post-Hurricane Sandy, it has become a shelter housing residents of three large nursing homes displaced by flooding on the barrier islands called The Rockaways. Rows upon rows of cots span the floor, filled with seniors sleeping, reading, chatting with neighbors, yelling incoherently or trying to escape. A crowd of new volunteers has gathered for orientation under "The Rules": No pictures, no sharing food with patients (who may be on diet restrictions), no skipping out without telling anybody and please sign up for at least one shift manning the toilets.

There is a large and growing pile of donated supplies by the door. Heaps of clothes, canned food, games and magazines for the displaced sit by the door, and (this being Brooklyn) 12 different types of herbal tea and gluten-free bagels are on offer in the break room. Boxes of pizza arrive regularly. New York takes care of its own. But, underneath the buzz of activity, there is a growing concern: How long will this last? The armory was a safe shelter in the storm, but these seniors can't stay here much longer. There is nowhere to send them. Their homes are destroyed and other facilities in the city are maxed out.

"I'm tired of this," said one evacuee found wheeling toward the door. "I want to go home. You can't make me stay."

Three days of sleeping on a cot had taken its toll.

"No, I don't want any water. I've had so much water I'm like a water balloon," she told eager volunteers. "This is ridiculous."

Rumors of the devastation swirled among the nurses and aid coordinators. A woman on Staten Island had her children ripped from her arms in the storm surge. A girl in Queens was electrocuted when she stepped on a downed power line. Coney Island was nearly wiped off the map. Bands of thugs were knocking on Rockaway doors in the middle of the night, claiming to be power company workers.

News and rumors take flight through the social media. Facebook is littered with stories of those waiting three hours for a bus to Manhattan and 10 hours for a gallon of gas. Friends in Hoboken, New Jersey, talk of being stranded for days in the upper floors of their apartment buildings, surrounded by floodwaters. The American Red Cross, flush with $23 million from a telethon fundraiser, is nowhere to be seen. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) took days to make it in to Staten Island to begin relief efforts.

New York is a divided city. There are the "haves", those with electricity, water, and who escaped Hurricane Sandy relatively unaffected beyond the inconvenience of the public transit system closure; and the "have nots." There are those who are without food and shelter, and those who lost loved ones. Some 40 New Yorkers lost their lives to the storm and more than 800,000 lost power. FEMA said it has dispensed close to $200 million in emergency housing assistance and placed 34,000 in local hotels for temporary housing. As temperatures drop and another storm carrying high winds, rain and even snow moves into the area, the question of where to put displaced New Yorkers for the winter becomes more urgent. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that the government is looking into using everything from hotels and motels to FEMA trailers and prefab homes.

"Given the extent of need, no option is off the table," she said. "All of them will have some place in this puzzle."

A lingering gas shortage has added to the misery. Hundreds of stations either are without power to operate pumps, or have run dry as long lines form and tempers flare.

"This problem with gas is a game changer," said Lisa Hines-Johnson, chief operating officer of the Food Bank for New York City, the city's main hunger relief nonprofit, told The Huffington Post. Though it has plenty of donated goods available, the food bank has run short of fuel to deliver supplies to its outlets across the city.

President Barack Obama ordered the Department of Defense to deliver 12 million gallons of gas and 12 million gallons of diesel to stations in the region. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie enacted a gas rationing system limited the days on which cars can get fuel.

Everywhere, the "haves" are helping the "have nots." The Brooklyn armory shelter was overrun with volunteers after a call for aid ricocheted around social media. One group, calling themselves "Nobodies Helping Everybody" has been taking donations, food and manpower into the Rockaways.

"The name of our group is simple, and the philosophy even easier. We were inspired by the countless politicians and fancy relief organizations asking us who were with -- and us answering: "Oh, we are nobodies," said organizers.

Thousands of runners scheduled to run the NYC Marathon (which was cancelled at the last minute after the mayor was criticized for being insensitive to the devastation still affecting the city) headed to Staten Island to transport supplies and assist the hard-hit borough where nearly 90,000 remain without power.

"I've run the marathon three times, and there was an odd familiarity getting on the Staten Island Ferry this morning with a group of runners for a completely different reason," New York runner Jon Bennion told CNN. "It was fascinating. The anxiety and jitters were replaced by an overwhelming sense of community."

There has been such an outpouring of support that Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested well-meaning volunteers donate money rather than goods. Shelters in the Rockaways are also turning away volunteers.

"At this point these centers have more than they can really realistically distribute," the mayor said. "If we need more, we can certainly put out another call for help, but what would be the most helpful is donations to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York, and then we'll be able to use that money to help people get back on their feet."

Corporations have also stepped forward, reports the New York Times. Walmart has donated six trailer truckloads of food, cleaning supplies and board games and PepsiCo donated five trailer truckloads of beverages and snacks.

As election day dawned on November 6, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an emergency executive order that will allow voters to cast their ballots at any polling station in the state. Under the system, voters who can't make it to their designated polling place can cast special affidavit ballots for their presidential pick. About 60 polling sites were disrupted by the hurricane.

New Yorkers are not typically patient people. As the days pass, those without power grow increasingly frustrated. Relief at surviving Hurricane Sandy is giving way to anger at the slow pace of recovery. For a city that moves as fast as the Big Apple, even a temporary stall can have a big impact. The economic impact of the storm is stunning, projected between $30 billion and $50 billion.

"It's not going to be a simple task. It's going to be one of the most complicated and long-term recovery efforts in U.S. history," Mark Merritt, president of Washington-based crisis management consulting firm Witt Associates, told USA Today.

The author is a freelance writer living in New York City