Mr Obama visited areas of New Jersey³ struck by the storm on Wednesday.

 

His Republican challenger, Mitt⁴ Romney, has been holding rallies after halting his campaign earlier in the week.

 

Storm Sandy left at least 64 people dead in the US, cut power from millions of homes and paralysed transport on much of the eastern US seaboard.

 

It made landfall on Monday night in New Jersey, where some 20,00 people remain trapped in their homes by sewage-contaminated floodwater.

 

In New York City, the storm brought a record tidal surge that swamped（淹没） the subway system and caused widespread blackouts.

 

Earlier, it killed nearly 70 people in the Caribbean and caused extensive crop destruction in impoverished⁵（穷困的） Haiti.

 

 

Mr Obama has planned campaign stops on Thursday in Nevada, Colorado and Wisconsin.

 

On Wednesday, he toured parts of New Jersey struck by the storm with Republican Governor Chris Christie.

 

"You guys are in my thoughts and prayers," the president said during a visit to an emergency shelter in Atlantic City. "We are going to be here for the long haul."

 

Of more than six million homes and businesses across the north-east that still have no electricity, a third of them are in New Jersey. 

 

In the New Jersey city of Hoboken, across the Hudson River from New York City, the National Guard has arrived to evacuate⁶ about 20,000 people and distribute meals.

 

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, usually one of Mr Obama's fiercest critics, spoke⁷ of his "great working relationship" with the Democratic president.

 

"I cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion⁸ for the people of our state," said Mr Christie.

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