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Tempers flare as thousands left stranded in Hoboken, N.J.

HOBOKEN, N.J. Tempers are flaring in Hoboken, N.J., as residents complain officials in the flooded city on the Hudson River have been slow to get out food and water to the stranded.

At the National Guard staging area in front of City Hall, a man screamed at emergency officials. He says he blew up an air mattress to float over to City Hall to see why no supplies were getting out. He says he lives just blocks away and was expecting the city to at least get out food and water.

New Jersey National Guard trucks were evacuating the city of Hoboken Wednesday and delivering ready-to-eat meals to thousands who have been stranded in their homes by floodwaters from Superstorm Sandy.

About half the city remains flooded two days after the storm made landfall. Live wires dangled in floodwaters that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said were rapidly mixing with sewage.

With streets resembling lakes, thousands are still holed up in their brownstones, condos, and other housing in the mile-square city across the Hudson River from Manhattan.

An 80-year-old resident of a senior high-rise in downtown Hoboken tells The Associated Press he walked down 15 flights to get out of his building, which is surrounded by floodwaters. Frank Bongiorno says he went without food.

Vihaan Gadodia, 2, is handed from a National Guard truck after he and his family left a flooded building in Hoboken, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, in the wake of superstorm Sandy. AP Photo/Craig Ruttle

On Sunday Zimmer ordered an evacuation of basement and street-level units. Payloaders have been used to get people out for medical emergencies, but the mayor's spokesman, Juan Melli, says the streets are so narrow they can get stuck, CBS Station WCBS reports.

The city is asking people with generators and boats to bring them to city hall, which is on dry ground and powered by a backup generator.

"We will make it through this together," said Zimmer. "All our emergency personnel and volunteers have been working so hard under the most extreme circumstances to keep our community safe."

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