Nightly News   |  November 28, 2012

Sandy may have shut down Rockaway businesses for good

Up to 50 percent of local businesses may never reopen in the Rockaways, a beach community in Queens, was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. These mom and pop shops rely on the holiday season to survive, but they don’t have the funds to get back on their feet fast enough for December’s influx of shoppers. NBC’s Katy Tur reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> night of the year, especially, new york city continues to be a tale of two cities . just outside our studios, out back here tonight, thousands are packed into the plaza for the lighting of the rockefeller center christmas tree , always a glittering occasion, this time of year. but if you get in the car and drive to the shoreline to the beach communities of the rockaways, it is an entirely different story, a cold, dark night under curfew, since the big storm. katy tur has more on the story.

>> reporter: good evening, brian, people around here are talking about two things today. one of them is all the debris and dust like this, what it is doing to the air quality . that with the mold, the sewage, and is it safe to breathe? that is why you're seeing so many people around here wearing masks. in fact, doctors have seen more breathing problems since sandy hit. the others are the local businesses, we're on one street with the local businesses. the owners say nearly 1150 businesses in the area could end up never re-opening, that is back because of the damage, and most of them can't open for the season. these are mom and pop shops that really need to open to survive. this is what many argued in front of congress today, begging the congressional leaders to give them the funding they need to help the areas get back on their feet, brian.