"It's kind of like living in Raumati and working in Wellington," he said.
Since the storm hit, he had been able to work from home via the internet, but there were resources at his workplace that he would eventually need.
Mr Gullery said it took his colleague, who lives a couple of blocks from the World Trade Center site - normally a 20-minute taxi ride from their workplace - two hours to get to work yesterday.
He said Manhattan's roading network had become overcrowded as people made their way to work without the aid of public transport and with many traffic lights out of order. His home in Ossining never lost power.
"The lights flickered, and neighbouring streets did [lose power], but we've been lucky," Mr Gullery said.
The local supermarket was being powered by a generator, and its chilled food had been spoiled, but it was still able to sell non-perishable goods.
That was an example of the disruption to daily life the storm had caused, he said.
Gas stations in his area were also running out of fuel because it was unable to be trucked in.
New Jersey, the state to the south and west of New York City, bore the brunt of Sandy.
Mr Gullery said his experience of it paled in comparison, and he felt guilty bemoaning the inconvenience of the storm's effects, given that people had been killed.
Mr Gullery's wife and three adult children were all unharmed, and he had been keeping his family in Wanganui up to date with Sandy's aftermath.
He said an army of workers and volunteers were busy trying to get things back up to speed. That meant one of the suburban commuter train lines was now running, but other services would take much longer to restore.