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2,000 Trees Damaged During Superstorm Sandy To Be Removed

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- About 2,000 trees compromised during superstorm Sandy must be removed, the city Parks Department says. That will be a big blow to Coney Island, which was already lacking in greenery, WCBS 880's Alex Silverman reported.

The city determined the trees must be uprooted after workers inspected all 50,000 trees in the flood zone, officials said.

Last month, a man was walking on Coney Island's boardwalk when a large branch broke loose and struck him in the head. He reportedly suffered a concussion and a black eye.

2,000 Trees Damaged During Superstorm Sandy To Be Removed

"They have to come down," Chuck Reichenthal, the district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 13 in Coney Island, said of the trees.

Reichenthal said the toll Sandy took on Coney Island's trees became evident when spring began and they never came to life.

"We suddenly saw that they were gone," he said. "They were victims, just as everybody else had been victims."

The city will plant new trees, but it will take years before they are large enough to provide shade.

Some trees can be revived, says the Parks Department, as fresh water flushes away salt.

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