NEW YORK -- A huge fire destroyed between 80 and 100 houses in a flooded neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens.

More than 190 firefighters have contained the six-alarm blaze fire in the Breezy Point section, but they are still putting out some pockets of fire.

A fire department spokesman says one firefighter suffered a minor injury and was taken to a hospital. Two civilians suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene.

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Officials say the fire was reported around 11 p.m. Monday in an area flooded by the superstorm that began sweeping through the city earlier.

The neighborhood sits on the Rockaway peninsula jutting into the Atlantic Ocean.

Firefighters told WABC-TV that the water was chest high on the street, and they had to use a boat to make rescues.

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They said in one apartment home, about 25 people had been trapped in an upstairs unit. Firefighters climbed an awning to access the trapped people, and took them downstairs to the boat in the street.

Video footage of the scene showed a hellish swath of tightly packed homes fully engulfed in orange flames as firefighters hauled hoses while sloshing in ankle-high water. Many homes appeared completely flattened by the wind-whipped flames.

In September, the beachfront neighborhood was struck by a tornado that hurled debris in the air, knocked out power and startled residents who once thought of twisters as a Midwestern phenomenon.

Associated Press