Sandy: Survivors See Loved-Ones Die In Floods

Survivors have described their tragic attempts to save loved ones after the powerful Sandy storm devastated the US East Coast.

Glenda Moore was left screaming in the street after her two sons were torn from her arms by the storm surge on Staten Island.

Two-year-old Brandon and Connor, four, were swept away as the three tried to escape floodwaters.

The boys' bodies were found in a marsh on Thursday close to where Mrs Moore lost hold of them.

Mrs Moore had got into a Ford Explorer to travel to her sister's home in Brooklyn but it stalled in the rising waters.

They were caught in the floodwaters when they got out to try and get away.

Neighbours reportedly ignored Mrs Moore's frantic screams for 12 hours until a police patrol car arrived on the scene.

It comes after a daughter was forced to watch her mother die when floodwaters left them trapped inside their home on Staten Island.

Diane Norris, 65, and her mother Ella, 89, tried to get out of their South Beach apartment as the powerful storm surge forced water levels up.

But they were unable to escape and were left holding each other in their living room as the water rose around them.

After screaming for help in the freezing water, Ella Norris was unable to hold on any longer and died in the early hours of Tuesday.

Her daughter told the New York Daily News: "She said, 'Diane I can't do this anymore' and she just went down in my arms. And I couldn't hold her."

In New York, Herminia St John died after her oxygen machine lost power and a backup failed.

The 75-year-old grandmother of 14 suffered from congestive heart failure and diabetes.

Her grandson, Claudio, tried to flag down an ambulance and then ran to Bellevue Hospital, but Ms St. John had already died when medics arrived.

Daughter Elsa St. John told the New York Daily News: "I hugged her and she hugged and kissed me.

"She asked me to turn her to the window and she was gone."

Meanwhile a 23-year-old makeup artist was electrocuted while photographing a downed power line in Richmond Hill, New York.

Lauren Abraham came into contact with live wires outside her home and was set on fire as horrified neighbours looked on.

There were also stories of heroism as firefighters, the coastguard and police battled the elements to save people.

Video footage showed the moment helicopter rescue teams plucked stranded people from the roofs of their homes on the East Coast.

Jon Candelaria, 25, ignored the risk to his own life to go to the aid of a taxi driver in New York.

The 6ft 5in accountant, a father-of-one, waded into the chest-high water to pluck the driver from his SUV.

When he got to the vehicle, the water was already up to the driver's chin.

He told DNAinfo: "When I got to the driver, the water was up to his chin. He looked like he was praying, preparing to die.

"He looked like he knew it was his time to go."

Off-duty NYPD officer Artur Kasprzak, 28, died on Monday night after successfully rescuing seven members of his own family, including his 15-month-old son.