Local phone company offers free calls to the US

(CNS): People with LIME residential landlines will be able to call the United States today for free. The company is offering customers ‘15-family minutes’ free Wednesday (31 October) between mid-day to midnight so that they can call loved ones in the USA who are dealing with the damage caused by the passage of Hurricane Sandy. One of the largest storms to ever strike the east coast of the US, it has disrupted the lives of millions of people. LIME said that it was offering the free 15 minutes talk time as a “humanitarian gesture” for those who have family impacted by the natural disaster.

“We wanted to give everyone the opportunity to call and check with family and friends that they are okay following the dreadful effects of the storm,” said Anthony Ritch, Cayman’s General Manager for LIME.

Superstorm Sandy caused billions of dollars worth of damage when it made landfall on Monday and pummelled the Northeast coast, killing at least 55 people. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it could take four or five days before the city's subway, which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history, is running again.

Consolidated Edison, New York's power company, said it would be four days before the last of the 337,000 customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn have electricity again and it could take a week to restore outages in the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Westchester County. Floodwater led to explosions that disabled a power substation Monday night, contributing to the outages.

John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Newark International Airport in New Jersey reopened Wednesday morning with limited service. New York's LaGuardia Airport remains closed.