NYC power outage divides the city

>> of new york city , new york city has now been cleaved into two cities, one half of it without power, the other half going on as if there is no crisis. nbc's ann thompson has the tale of two new yorks tonight, good evening.

>> reporter: good evening, brian, i'm up at the rare bar and grill where there is power. and behind me you can see the bright lights of the island of manhattan and the famous skyline, but if you look over here you will see that more than a quarter million people are in total darkness for the third straight night.

>> reporter: in new york, have's and have not's are divided with power, those that have strips to share, and those that don't. there is the buzz of living in the dark, and with little mass transit .

>> with five buses to get to downtown brooklyn , walked across the brooklyn bridge , i work there, i just wanted to see what was going on.

>> this station had water filled half at the moment, but with more.

>> reporter: with subways still under water, some took to two wheels.

>> it is cut in half at 40th.

>> reporter: most got in their cars and didn't get anywhere fast. we are at 62rd and 2rd avenue, the goal to go a couple of blocks, the first block took several minutes. it is going to be a long ride. to ease the gridlock, mayor michael bloomberg announced new rules for driving into the four east side bridges.

>> if you're coming into manhattan with one of the bridges you have to have three people in the car.

>> reporter: in other areas, the situation is dire, after rescues in staten island , the rescue crews went house to house in still submerged neighborhood.

>> all of these houses we're talking about a good, six, seven, eight, nine blocks inland before the water finally recedes over here.

>> reporter: here, normal seems very far away, but it is slowly returning to parts of manhattan . the symbol of economic power , the new york stock exchange , reopened, running on a generator. and despite some criticism, the new york city marathon will go on sunday. it brought $340 million to the city last year.

>> the bottom line is new york city has lost a lot of revenue this past few days. we've lost a lot of economic activity and need to re-start really quickly for the good of our people.

>> reporter: the mayor thinks that by sunday, by the time the runners take off that most of the power will be restored to the city. meanwhile, at new york university they had to relocate 6,000 students because the dorms are out of power and water. while there is progress here, brian, there are plenty of problems that remain.

>> ann thompson on the perch above new york city that may show the tale of two cities better than any other, ann , thank you very