Norwich -- An estimated 1,000 people were braced to wait up to five hours today in a huge line outside the state Department of Social Services offices as they made requests for aid to cover losses from Tropical Storm Irene.

The crowd this morning near Uncas-on-Thames Hospital on West Thames Street was four to five times bigger than Monday's turnout but better behaved, perhaps because of the cooler weather, said State Trooper Thomas Fabian.

"Yesterday there were issues with people cutting in line," Fabian said. "It was getting confrontational. That's why we were called in about halfway through."

People in line said some folks who arrived at 6 a.m. found there already were 100 people ahead of them. The lines didn't start moving until 8:30.

The Norwich office of the DSS and the 11 other branches across the state are taking applications under the federal Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (D-SNAP) until 3:30 today from low-income state residents who lost work, property or shelter because of Irene. Thousands have applied statewide since last Wednesday.

"These are hard times, and they're getting worse," said Angela Gambro of New London.

Grants, to be given out in the form of a debit-type card, range from $200 to $952, depending on the size of the family. People on food stamps were not able to take advantage of the help, nor were those whose take-home pay and liquid assets for a single person exceeded $2,186 a month or $3,859 for a family of four.

"I lost all the food in my freezer," said Melanie Smith of New London, in line with friend Marie Cornish of Groton.

Ivan Brown of Norwich said it cost him $600 to remove a huge tree that fell on his property. He also lost $200 in food after being without power for three days, he said.

"It's not like we don't work," Brown said. "You're looking at people who work. … It's disaster relief, and that's what it's there for."