NYC Resumes Inspections In Operations Hit By Hurricane Sandy

Hundreds of New York area restaurants estimated to have been damaged by late October’s Hurricane Sandy were granted a two-month respite from the city’s letter-grade inspections. But on Jan. 2, the New York City Department of Health began sending out inspectors to perform letter-grade inspections in city neighborhoods affected by the storm.

During the two-month hiatus, inspectors served in an advisory capacity in person and by phone to restaurants in the process of rebuilding or re-opening.

Initially, the inspections were suspended until Nov. 12 in areas where operations were damaged by the hurricane. Faced by the reality that many neighborhoods have been slow to recover, the department extended that time period for an additional six weeks.

Although the health department has no actual count of the total number of restaurants closed or severely damaged by the hurricane, the New York State Restaurant Association estimates that hundreds of food-related businesses have been unable to fully resume operations.