New Jersey turns to rebuilding after superstorm Sandy

A small shop that rents personal watercraft rests in a huge sinkhole on the bayside in Ocean City, N.J., Oct. 30, 2012, after a storm surge from superstorm Sandy the night before. / AP Photo

BELMAR, N.J. Even as some barrier islands are mostly cut off and millions in New Jersey are without electricity, Gov. Chris Christie said that the state should start thinking about recovery and rebuilding after hybrid storm Sandy ravaged the shore and did damage in all corners of the state.

"Tomorrow recovery begins. Today was a day of sorrow," Christie said at a news conference Tuesday evening. "There's nothing wrong with that. So long as sorrow doesn't replace resilience, we'll be just fine."

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Officials: Several N.J. Barrier island beaches disappeared

President Obama was planning to visit New Jersey on Wednesday to see the area where the violent storm made landfall two days before.

• Obama to view New Jersey storm damage

Christie said Tuesday that when he speaks with Mr. Obama, he plans to ask the president to assign the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to start working on how to rebuild beaches and find "the best way to rebuild the beach to protect these towns."

While that sounds like a notion that would be hard to disagree with, it can be contentious.

New Jersey's shore has been a political battleground over beach replenishment projects. Some oceanfront homeowners object to building up dunes. Sure, they may protect their properties' integrity, but higher dunes can damage pristine ocean views and the property values that come with them.

And some environmental groups have objected to replenishment plans, too, partly because of fears of contamination in the sand that's being moved around.

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Gov. Christie gives emotional account of N.J. damage from Sandy

New Jersey is still assessing damage from this week's storm.

Sandy has been blamed for at least six deaths across the state plus power outages that at their peak Monday affected 2.7 million residential and commercial customers. The lights were out in Jersey City and most of Newark and in other communities scattered all over the state.

Besides ravaging beaches, the storm swept homes off their foundations in some coastal communities, wrecked some boardwalks and knocked amusement park rides from piers in Seaside Heights.

By Tuesday, access was still restricted onto barrier islands such as Long Beach Island, Ocean City and the one that includes Seaside Heights and Seaside Park.

Atlantic City's 12 casinos remained closed.

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Superstorm slams Jersey Shore

The New Jersey National Guard came to Hoboken Tuesday night to help residents of the heavily flooded city on the Hudson River.

Mayor Dawn Zimmer told MSNBC that the waters had become contaminated from sewage and had live electrical wires in them.

P.J. Molski, a 25-year-old graphic designer who lives in Hoboken, said that his place is dry but that his car, which he left parked on a flooded street, won't start.

Almost every basement apartment he has seen in the small city is flooded, he told the Associated Press.

"There are just pumps going all over the city of people trying to get the water out of their basement apartments," he said.

Surprise coastal surge floods battered Moonachie, Little Ferry and some other towns along the Hackensack River in Bergen County -- all areas unaccustomed to flooding.

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Responders rush to rescue flooded N.J. Town

In Moonachie, a town of 2,700 about 10 miles northwest of Manhattan, police Sgt. Tom Schmidt said water rose to 5 feet within 45 minutes, making roads impassable and cutting off residents who thought the worst from the superstorm was over.

Schmidt said rescuers had trouble using boats to carry out rescues because water levels were varying from several feet to only inches. Trucks were also used.

CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reports that Moonachie's only firehouse was destroyed. Teams from surrounding towns joined the New Jersey National Guard in the effort to save hundreds of people.

"We can only get so close to the homes, so if we have to get out of the vehicle and assist getting them up, we will," Staff Sgt. Katie Cataldo told Quijano.

Mobile home park resident Juan Allen said that water overflowed a 2-foot-wall along a nearby creek during the tidal surge, filling the area with 2 to 3 feet of water within 15 minutes and eventually as much as 5 feet.

"I saw trees not just knocked down but ripped right out of the ground," he said. "I watched a tree crush a guy's house like a wet sponge."

In neighboring Little Ferry, population 10,000, residents reported water suddenly started gushing out of storm drains late Monday night, and within 90 minutes, 4 feet of water was in the road and entering houses.

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Superstorm's most dramatic images

Janice Kama was playing cards with her husband by candlelight Monday night after power went out when her poodle terrier mix started looking out the screen door.

"I thought she saw an animal," Kama said. "Then my husband looked out the back door and said, 'Oh, my god.' It was like rapids coming down the block and down the sidewalk, like someone turned on a faucet."

Some public transportation services are starting up again around the state.

Manhattan-bound ferries were to resume running Wednesday morning, as were New Jersey Transit buses in Camden. PATCO trains to Philadelphia resumed service late Tuesday. But other mass transit was suspended until further notice.

Newark Liberty International Airport was to open at 7 a.m. Wednesday but carriers expected to provide only limited service.

State government offices and most schools were closed for Wednesday. Rutgers University called off classes for the rest of the week on its New Brunswick and Newark campuses.

The storm was horrific as it produced hurricane-force winds and heavy rains over the state.

David Anthony and his wife, Ann Felice, both 64, were stuck in their house on Barnegat Bay across from Long Beach Island when water began to rise Monday. They went to their upstairs bedroom and tied five bedsheets together thinking they might need to use them as a rope to escape as the winds and surge pounded the home.

"It was like somebody taking a massive sledgehammer to the wall," Anthony said Tuesday. "I thought we were dead. Even if we did get out the window, the waves were so powerful."

As destructive and frightening as the storm was, the fear gave way to relief after it passed. "We got lucky," Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian. "It could have been a lot worse but what we got was something I've never seen before in my life."

[CZUMBLE]

Looking for an hones,reliable remodeling company? https://www.facebook.com/#!/LetsRebuildSouthJerseyHurricaneSandyReliefEfforts

[maiingan]

In March of 1962 there was a big storm which caused heavy damage along the East Coast, including New Jersey. Ian McHarg, author of "Design With Nature," had a lot of good tips about zoning on barrier islands and the coast to mitigate storm damage, whether from a hurricane or just a nor'easter. The learning curve since then seems to be a flat line. President Obama back then was just a toddler. Many other politicians are also way too young to remember, but the stories are now available on the Internet in many locations; and of course that book is in many libraries. Nature still operates the same way along the coast; the zoning advice is still correct. It's at least 50 years way past time this country enacted those zoning guidelines to mitigate future storm damage. People who advocate rebuilding storm-destroyed homes in the same places might forget that it may not be the building itself which should be in a safer place - but the personal possessions, many of which are irreplaceable, now lost from inside it. Once the residents have survived the storm, it's not really "just stuff." Today I mailed some printouts about that 1962 storm to President Obama. Maybe he'll realize the coastal damage is not so unprecedented.

[lloydbest1]

"New Jersey's shore has been a political battleground over beach replenishment projects. Some oceanfront homeowners object to building up dunes. Sure, they may protect their properties' integrity, but higher dunes can damage pristine ocean views and the property values that come with them."

Perhaps we should ask the question:
Should anyone even be allowed to build on the beach?
Perhapes we can take a point or two from LOUIVILLE223's diatribe against federalised disaster relief. Still have a national flood insurance program and make it mandatory for more people who live in flood prone areas. And still make it tax supported - meaning all those Kansan's and Illini and whoever else would still partially subsidise the cost of a Jersey Shore rebuild - BUT - and this is the real point:
Have all those (supposedly) high livin' beachfront property owners pay a surcharge on their flood insurance premiums for the privilege of living in an area that is UNUSUALLY prone to flood risk (or if they are already paying one, then up it by a few percentage points).

[msimamaji]

While Obama is helping New Jersey get back to its feet, McCain and Romney slam Obama's efforts at a so-called "charity" event, where they collected canned goods which the Red Cross neither wants nor needs.

And yet, the polls indicate a very tight race. What are people thinking about?

If the GOP, they'll will eliminate FEMA. Then Gov Christie will really have something to squawk about.

This disaster shows who deserves to lead this country. We need to re-hire Obama and fire the while ignorant, petty lyin'-Ryan, Shifty-Mitty GOP.

[robert1129]

While the people of NJ can use all of the help they can get, the irony of the situation is very clear. All year Christie and Romney have hammere Obama over what they call overspending. Now Christie is going to beg Obama for billions to rebuild NJ?? Romney has been an advocate of increased defense spending even though we have no conventional enemy. Now Christie is having to tell Romney to shove it because NJ needs the money.

[twmat311]

Why doesn't Christie turn to the public for support (i.e., donations and handouts), rather than take govt support? Per Romney and Co., this is a great way to provide the safety net in time of trouble.

Oh wait - it was the entire public just got nailed; what to do...

[lloydbest1]

to Louiville223:
While you are waxing lyrical with righteous indignation at the prospect of midwesterners paying for the (admitted) foolishness of those living right on top of the Atlantic, consider.....
Those same Jersey Shore residents helped pay for damages caused by similar floods all over the midwest and southeast - most recently in Nashville and much of central Tennessee durng that May cloudburst in 2010.
And, like you, I suspect; and me certainly, pay for damages suffered by those unfortuantes caught in the Tuscaloosa and Joplin tornados just last year.