City Council grills NYCHA for Superstorm Sandy response

The City Council on Thursday blasted the Housing Authority forits response to Superstorm Sandy. Council members, took turns grilling NYCHA general manager Cecil House about machinery being under water, senior citizens who were stranded in high rises, and residents who had to pay rent in buildings that didn't have unities for more than two months.

During the storn, 402 housing authority buildings lost power, leaving 80,000 residents without electricity, heat and hot water for more than two weeks after the storm hit on Oct. 29. "I couldn't find who was in charge, what was going on in what building. Cell service was out. And you can't even answer who was in charge," said City Councilman Domenic Recchia (D-Coney Island).

House defended NYCHA citing the door-to-door outreach, the automated phone calls, and police officers announcing evacuations to protect public housing residents.