Mega-storm Sandy's march of destruction claimed at least 43 lives and left more than eight million people without electricity by late Tuesday, in one of the largest storms ever to strike the East Coast.

Diminished but still dangerous, the storm churned across Pennsylvania on Tuesday in an arc toward Canada, and the northeastern U.S. began its slow process of recovery. In New York, financial markets were expected to resume trading Wednesday, though big chunks of the city are without electricity and its vast network of subways remains idled by historic flooding.

As dawn broke Tuesday on the storm's trail of destruction, it began exposing stories of heroism and tragedy, bad decisions and lucky breaks.

New Jersey took a particularly severe hit. Portions of the famed Atlantic City boardwalk were reduced to splinters, the casino town itself all but submerged. The Seaside Park roller coaster lay twisted in the Atlantic Ocean. Countless homes were damaged or destroyed.

'The level of devastation at the Jersey Shore is unthinkable,' Gov. Chris Christie said in a news conference.

In Broad Channel in New York City, a 29-year-old mother was forced to dive and swim out of her house's front window with her 8-year-old daughter. On Long Island, a man lit a firework that he mistook for a candle, and blew his hand off, police say. In Freeport, N.Y., Nicole Smith evacuated and then returned home