If you are affected by Sandy and you could read this I hope you and yours are all safe.

Got power back on my street yesterday, but neighbors on next street are still out along with most of lower Manhattan and of course, all the shore towns. No school all week...that's 5 days. Traffic is a nightmare. Gas lines are long..like hours if you can find it. Three shops I had for early November have been cancelled, understandably. My son's finance had to go in to work yesterday in Moonachie to bail and clean up from 5 feet of water that encompassed the whole town when the Hackensack River overflowed its berm/banks/levy. That was not expected and took the residents by surprise. They had to be evacutated in middle of the storm as water rose to five feet in minutes. That town is far from the Hudson Bay and the storm surge reached all the way up there. It's just amazing. Slowly getting back to normal, but the gas situation is a real problem. No gas, no going anywhere, no generators etc. Subways are not running in NYC and there is a 3 person requirement for cars entering Manhattan which they are fiercly enforcing.

My heart breaks at the sight of the beautiful Jersey beach towns that have been devastated. As a child I remember the storm from the '60's and much of the rebuilding in LBI had the homes on stilts. I hope that saved many of the homes. Loss of life has been minimal and except for towns near the ocean and rivers fed by the Hudson Bay, flooding did not happen. Thank God. The rain was not the problem. Heavy rain never happened. All the damage came from the storm surge and wind. Gov. Christie was right when he said they will rebuild, but it won't be the same. There has been discussion over the years about maintaining Point Pleasant as the quaint fishing town it always was and the pull of developers who wanted to build condos/high rises etc. I'm afraid after this storm, the charm of the beach towns as we in NJ knew them, will be gone, replaced by new construction where they will get the most bang for their real estate buck. Life goes on.

Thanks for all your concerns.


Judi

As a child in the late 60's and early 70's, we spent summers in Harvey Cedars. My step-grandmother had a store she had rebuilt twice. I pulled it up on Google street view and found it had actually still been there at the most recent update. I wonder how much of it is left now. Didn't Long Beach Island get hit hard? Most of what I see involves NYC and Atlantic City.

Long Beach Island got hit very hard. From what I understand, the bay met the ocean, which I expected since there isn't a whole lot of land in between them. A friend's lagoon side home survived but had 3 feet of water. Don't know much else. As far as AC goes, the reports on the news have been showing the boardwalk as destroyed, however, the boardwalk in front of the casinos remains intact and there was little damage to the casinos. The stuff they're showing on the TV is of a small and old section of the boardwalk near the Absecon Inlet. I have, however, seen news reports of knee high water around the Tanger shopping area which is right amidst the casino area, but a block or two from the ocean, so who knows. Casinos are still closed but could reopen 'cept for no one can get there.

Belmar took a beating too. I heard on the news today that DJ's, a crumby boardwalk bar where they used to serve 10 beers for $1, survived...yay..that's where I met my hubby 35 years ago. SHHH I'll never admit it again.

Greetings from Toms River...

We were in the path of the hurricane, but are far enough inland not to have been affected by the storm surge. Many downed trees and power lines, shingles/gutters ripped off homes/businesses. We were fortunate to get power back after only 2 days. Many in NJ & NY do not expect power back for at least a few more days.

Schools in the area will not reopen until 11/12. Some are without power or have loose wires, others are being used for shelters. Gas lines are long here, too and there have been some cases of gouging. Most people heeded the warnings about the hurricane. I, myself, was skeptical about it until the night before it was expected to hit. Stocked up on Sunday and managed to survive.

The NJ shore was hit very hard. We are lucky to have any beaches left. Most of the boardwalks have been destroyed. Million dollar homes ruined and businesses lost. The good news is that it was not worse than it was. Fortunately, it was warm enough so that things haven't frozen and we didn't have snow. There will be plenty of opportunity for some businesses -- landscaping/tree services; home repairs, furnishings, appliances, cars, clothes & more to be replaced. Thank God FEMA is here to help people recover.

Another happy thought -- a few days without incessant political discourse on the TV! It was a nice respite.

I live in Virginia where all we basically got was rain. But my family has a home in Seaside Park NJ, just a mile down the road from where the iconic boardwalk in Seaside Heights was destroyed. We were fortunate in that most of the our town escaped major structural damage, but the entire town was under at least several feet of water. Our house is toward the center of the island in a two block wide section and this is the first time flood waters reached our home, built 61 years ago by my dad and grandfather. It breaks my heart to see all the devastation.

Update from NJ:

What I've been hearing around town and on the internet is that no one is permitted to access the causeway to LBI except emergency personnel and repair crews. It said residents may not be able to return for 8 months. There are gas leaks, sewer problems and pipes need to be replaced. They want residents and ogglers out of the way. Same in the Seaside peninusla. Great news for all you Jersey Shore lovers...the Jersey Shore house survived. I'm not a fan, but thought I'd pass the news along. The tee shirt shop where they worked suffered severe damage, but the house which was right behind it, had minor damage....go figure.

Meanwhile, million dollar homes in Mantaloking were washed out to sea. They were absolutely beautiful and were directly on the beach, of course. I used to drive down route 35 and try to stare at them as I drove b/c I loved to see the detail and architecuture. That is the place where, if you've seen it on the news, the bridge was knocked out and a lone house sits in the middle of the water. The ocean actually carved a new inlet to the bay where several of the mansions sat. But....houses can be replaced as they say.

My son arrived last night from SC with equipment and workers to start repair to damaged homes around the shore area. He may have enough work to last for months. PM me if anyone needs water damage repairs to homes that are accessible in the Toms River, Manahawkin area and south from there to the Wildwoods.

I hear another storm is abrewing, which will not be a good thing for the shore. I see all my usual gas stations and many shore mystery shops I would normally grab are posted for areas that are totally inaccessible. Even if I had the gas to get there, I would never attempt to shop now. Gas lines are just ridiculous. My day is tomorrow (rationing) and I dread the wait. I haven't done it yet, but I'm down to 1/4 tank and will need to get it or not go to work. I'm getting cabin fever. Oh my, then I feel so bad for the folks who still have no power and no heat, or no homes at all. It is going down to the 30s tonight. It's been rough for many folks and is getting rougher, I'm afraid. Hopefully power will be restored this week.

Hi,
I live in Fairfield CT. The power was out for most people until Friday 11/2. A few of my neighbors had electricity restored today.

A hugh tree fell over and knocked down the power lines and a pole cracked in half. Two cars were damaged by the tree. I was out walking around last week since there wasn't much to do without power, and I talked with workers from North Carolina, Mississippi and Texas. I thank God for all the help we received.