Hundreds of homes across New York City will be torn down after inspectors determined they are unlivable and unable to be rebuilt. But families have questions about whether their contents will be covered and when they can expect to return. Marc Santia reports from Staten Island.
New York City is moving to demolish hundreds of homes that were damaged by Sandy.
The New York Times reports that about 200 homes will be bulldozed in the coming days. Most of them are one- and two-family houses in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island.
That is in addition to 200 houses that are already partially or completely burned down, washed away or otherwise damaged. Those sites will be cleared.
City Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri tells the Times that the department is still inspecting nearly 500 other damaged structures and some of them could also be razed.
No decisions have been made about rebuilding. Some of the damaged houses were built decades ago as summer bungalows, and rebuilding similar houses would violate current building codes.
