Picking Up The Pieces In Sandy-Devastated Towns

In the coming weeks, hundreds of New York City homes deemed safety hazards after Superstorm Sandy will be razed in an operation Mayor Michael Bloomberg described as “unprecedented.”

Some 200 homes in Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island will fall to the bulldozers.

That's in addition to the 200 or so homes already demolished after being damaged by wind, water or by storm-sparked fire.

And building inspectors must still issue a ruling on another 500 damaged structures, some of which could also meet the same fate.

New York is still picking up after last month’s mammoth confluence of a hurricane and a nor'easter, which landed a direct blow on the city and New Jersey.

One of the most devastated towns on the Jersey Shore is Holgate, a mix of two and three story homes and trailer parks on the southern tip of Long Beach Island, just north of Atlantic City.

Three weeks after Sandy, homes and businesses still don't have electricity, or gas for heat and hot water.

This past weekend, residents were allowed through police barricades to survey the damage and salvage what they could.

Here & Now's Chris Ballman was on the Jersey Shore helping his dad tear down walls and remove waterlogged insulation from the family home on Barnegat Bay.

He took a break to spend some time in Holgate, N.J. Click on the SoundCloud at the top of the page to hear his audio postcard.