Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano visits SI - DC Breaking Local News Weather Sports FOX 5 WTTG

FEMA is on the ground at Staten Island helping people displaced from the storm find new homes. 

President Obama will visit parts of New York ravaged on Thursday but on Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was there, making sure the process is working. 

Electricians were hard at work tonight trying to get Natasha Khochaba's lights back on.  

"I'm so tired," said Khochaba. 

Monday marks two weeks that Khochaba's and many of her neighbors in the Midland Beach section of Staten Island have been living in the cold and dark. 

"Two weeks now without power, it takes a toll," said resident Robert Langschultz. "It's cold at night and you don't even know what time of day it is." 

Many people in this area have come to rely on the kindness of strangers.  On Sunday a group of Port Authority police officers drove through darkened streets distributing supplies to people like Sergey Elvine. 

"I'm just getting tired, everyone just wants their normal lives back -- you don't know how much you have until you lose it," said Elvine. 

Napolitano was back on Staten Island to survey the recovery efforts and acknowledged normalcy is probably still months away for the hardest hit communities. 

"I will say as much progress as we've had there's still much to be done," said Napolitano. "This is for the long haul." 

Napolitano now says the biggest issue is housing -- repairing the homes that are still livable and finding alternatives for the families who can't go home.