NEW YORK -- A fire has destroyed at least 50 homes in a flooded neighbourhood in the New York City borough of Queens.

A fire department spokesman says more than 190 firefighters are at the blaze in the Breezy Point section. He says two people have suffered minor injuries.

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

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