These days, Haim Haddad, owner of the Coney Island Beach Shop, plugs a tiny, square digital device into his cellphone or iPad to process credit-card payments. Aside from a generator that provides enough juice to supply part of his store's needs and a sporadic WiFi connection, the device is one of the few resources his small business still has. On Oct. 29, the store, located about 200 yards from the Atlantic, lay immediately in the path of what proved to be the most powerful storm to hit the region in 100 years.
"I have no phone line, and all my electrical equipment is swimming in the ocean," Haddad says.