Deputy Mayor: A Year After Superstorm Sandy, Hundreds Of NYC Families Not Back In Homes

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- As the one-year anniversary of superstorm Sandy approaches, several hundred New York City families are still not living in their homes, Deputy Mayor Cas Holloway said.

Holloway, however, bragged about the city's response to the Oct. 29, 2012, storm that left 44 dead, displaced thousands and left about two million without power.

"We (repaired) more than 12,000 building that house more than 54,000 New Yorkers, and we know that tens of thousands of families are back in their homes," he told reporters, including WCBS 880's Rich Lamb, Tuesday at City Hall.

Photos: Sandy One Year Later

Holloway added that the city is better prepared for a hurricane than it was a year ago.

"We think that the blueprint that we've put together is a pretty good one, obviously things evolve and change. But, it's a great start," Holloway told 1010 WINS reporter Stan Brooks.

However, he conceded if another storm of Sandy's dimensions were to strike, lower Manhattan "would have some level of inundation."

Protecting lower Manhattan from flooding would be a long-term investment, he added.

Holloway told 1010 WINS' Brooks that the next step will be up to the next administration.

As the one year anniversary of the storm approaches crews continued to work on the Montague tunnel which connects Manhattan to downtown Brooklyn.

The tube was destroyed during Sandy when it filled with 27-million gallons of salt water for 10 days before it was pumped out.

Electrical cabinets containing signal equipment were destroyed and had to be replaced.

The project was expected to take just over a year and cost at least $100-million dollars.

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