New York City will bulldoze about 200 homes damaged by Hurricane Sandy. (Creative Commons)

The homes are mostly one and two family houses in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. The decision to demolish them follows an additional 200 home sites to be cleared from existing damage, some completely burned down.

The damaged properties show Hurricane Sandy’s toll on the East Coast, a devastation that will take years to recover. The Buildings Department is inspecting almost 500 other damaged structures, the New York Times reported. Many will also face the bulldozer, said the commissioner Robert L. LiMandri.

“We’ve never had this scale before,” Mr. LiMandri said to the Times. “This is what New Yorkers have read about in many other places and have never seen, so it is definitely unprecedented.”

SEE ALSO: Sandy Costs: 22 Dead, $20 Billion in Damage

He also noted the fear of New Yorkers in the weeks after Sandy’s destruction. “When you walk around in these communities, people are scared and worried, and we’re trying to make every effort to be up front and share with them what they need to do.”

The Building Department expects a more concise count of how many homes face destruction later this week. Reaching owners of many homes is also a challenge, especially those who moved in with family or into hotels and shelters, now banned from entering their unsafe homes.

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