Hundreds of New York City homes deemed to be safety hazards after superstorm Sandy will be razed, in a vast operation described by the mayor\'s office as \"unprecedented.\"
New York is still picking up after last month\'s mammoth confluence of a hurricane and a seasonal "nor\'easter" storm plowed through the US northeast, landing a direct blow on the city and parts of neighboring New Jersey.
The mayor\'s office also announced Sunday that fuel rationing put in place on November 9, after the storm disrupted deliveries and power at gas stations across the region, would continue through Friday.
Some 200 houses in the New York boroughs of Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island that were hardest hit by Sandy are to be demolished in the coming weeks or months.
That\'s on top of the 200 or so that were already to be bulldozed after being completely or partially destroyed by wind, water or by storm-sparked fire.
New York City\'s Buildings Department must still issue a ruling on another 500 damaged structures, some of which could also meet the same fate, its director Robert LiMandri told the New York Times.
"We\'ve never had this scale before," LiMandri said in remarks published by the newspaper on Sunday.
"This is what New Yorkers have read about in many other places and have never seen, so it is definitely unprecedented."
A decision on how to rebuild these devastated neighborhoods has become another subject of intense debate.
Most of the houses that will be torn down are modest single- or two-family homes which, in some instances, have been passed down from generation to generation.
Some that were expanded and renovated over the years could not be rebuilt as they were because they would not pass current building codes.
Moreover, many families fled ahead of the storm, and authorities have had trouble locating them to discuss plans for their battered homes.
"This is not easy, in this case, because of all these displaced people, but we\'re going to do the best we can, but we may have to move on it if we can\'t find them," LiMandri said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement that fuel rationing which "has worked well and helped to reduce wait times and lines at the pump," would continue.
The rationing system allows motorists to pump gas at area service stations on alternate days, depending on whether their license plates end in an even or odd-number.
Bloomberg emphasized that nearly one-third of gas stations are still closed, which could become a problem this week as many drive to visit relatives for the Thanksgiving holiday Thursday.
The mayor said rationing would remain in place until Friday "to ensure we do not risk going back to the extreme lines we saw prior to the system being implemented."
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