US companies hustle to re-staff, reopen after Sandy

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (REUTERS) - Hurricane Sandy may have devastated the East Coast on Monday, but the water-logged wheels of commerce keep turning, storm damage or not.

As cities from New York down to Washington began to dig out from the historic destruction brought by Sandy, companies scrambled on Tuesday to assess their facilities with an eye toward reopening as soon as possible.

At least 15 people were reported killed along the Eastern seaboard by Sandy, one of the biggest storms to ever hit the country, which dropped just below hurricane status before making landfall on Monday night in New Jersey.

With the holiday season quickly approaching and tourists unlikely to be dissuaded from shopping, retailers in particular were hurrying on Tuesday to get back to business.