About 3,000 of the estimated 300,000 New Jersey homes that received some storm damage will be torn down.
Along the New Jersey shore this year, the sounds of summer include earth-moving equipment still cleaning up the devastation wrought last year by Sandy.
Officials say knocking down the homes that are too damaged to repair is a key part of the rebuilding process.
“We can’t start rebuilding until we get the demolition done,” Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said Wednesday during a tour of demolition being done in two barrier-island communities slammed by the storm.
Martin said about 3,000 of the estimated 300,000 New Jersey homes that received some storm damage will be torn down. So far, about 500 have been razed and many more will be soon.
In one program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the federal government pays 90 percent of demolition costs, with towns picking up the rest. So far, that program is being used in Brick and Toms River, and five other communities are in various stages of joining.
In the Normandy Beach section of Toms River, Rich and Janine Hennion watched and took pictures as an equipment operator knocked down their five-bedroom beachfront second home like it was a model, tossing aside a water heater, washer and dryer and a prized autographed photo of Larry Bird. The house, leaning back toward the beach, was in such bad shape that the owners never had a chance to get anything out after the storm.
“We’ve got to tear is down before we rebuild,” Rich Hennion said. “It’s a step in the right direction.”
The couple, who also live in Totowa, were planning to meet with an architect later Wednesday to plan their replacement house.
Martin said the state is pushing rebuilding quickly while maintaining environmental standards.
“We can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said.
Jersey Shore Summer: Optimism vs. ‘State of Denial’
Superstorm Sandy struck almost seven months ago – but it’s not old news in the minds of Jersey Shore business owners as they prepare for the summer season.
While some tourists seem eager to visit the summer destination spot and survey the damage, business owners say other would-be vacationers are worried destroyed beaches and closed shops might spoil the summer fun.
“Many are reluctant to make reservations, because they think the beaches won’t be up and running,” says Renee Typaldos, the owner of the Grenville Inn, in Bay Head, New Jersey.
And Glenn Kithcart, owner of Bay Head’s Bentley Inn, says callers are concerned about the size of the beach.
“It’s there, but it’s much shorter and smaller than it used to be,” Kithcart says.
FOXBusiness.com spoke with small business owners along the Jersey Shore to see how they’ve been preparing for the summer – and whether tourism will help them rebuild.
Expensive Damage — and Not a Lot of Government HelpThe Grenville is situated one short block from the Atlantic Ocean, and an equal distance from Twilight Lake. The 125-year-old hotel lost electricity for 90 days, but lack of power was just the beginning.
“We have our roof which needs to be repaired, all our electric needed to be rewired, our heating and AC is in the process of being redone, and the elevator had to be replaced,” says Typaldos.
On top of the structural damage, The Grenville lost its stock of wines, banquet silver, refrigerators, washers and dryers. Typaldos submitted insurance claims for over $500,000, and is out of pocket another quarter of a million dollars.
“We’re still waiting for wind coverage to pay out, but flood insurance paid out immediately,” Typaldos says. As for government help, Typaldos hit a bump: The first application to the Small Business Administration was denied, but she’s currently in the process of filing another.
“We’ve applied to every fund that’s available,” she says.
Tangerine Boutique, a women’s clothing store in Bay Head, had four feet of flooding in the store during the height of the storm.
“We lost all the merchandise and just opened a month ago,” says Joan Ferrara, a sales associate, who adds that Tangerine also lost its point of sale system, computers and phones.
Ferrara says the store hasn’t received “one penny” from the government. “The owner has been trying to work it out with the SBA, but every time she submits papers, she gets more – it’s been like starting a business over again,” she says.
The same goes for Kithcart, who has submitted applications to the SBA, but hasn’t received any money yet. “We had major flooding that wiped out our utilities, and wind damage, but we were relatively lucky,” he says, noting that the total cost came to about $200,000.
Concerns and Hopes for the Summer Season
Typaldos says bookings have not been as strong as in previous years. While the hotel’s restaurant has been open for business, the Grenville has been dependent on out-of-town visitors, as many residents have not been able to return to their homes.
“During the week, we’re at 50% to 75% occupancy for the hotel,” she says.
While Long Branch’s Ocean Place Resort had minimal damage from the storm, director of sales Mary Lou Pollack says the hotel’s regular clientele was hard-hit by Sandy.
“We’ve had a very good leisure guest following from northern New Jersey, metropolitan New York and specifically Staten Island. We’ve seen a decrease in business from Staten Island, because it was hit so hard and people really don’t have the discretionary income,” says Pollack.
“You’re in a state of denial if you think there won’t be challenges this summer,” she says.
Kithcart says the Bentley is behind 20% in bookings, but he and other business owners are hopeful that fewer options will make this summer a success – even if there are fewer tourists.
“There are less rental properties available, and owners who are repairing their summer homes but still want to come to the beach may give us some business, too,” says Kithcart.
Pollack says she’s feeling optimistic as well, given the “compression in the marketplace.”
“Businesses that may have competed with us are not on their feet again,” she says. Pollack adds that there’s been a groundswell of support from New Jersey’s Fortune 500 companies that is helping Ocean Place.
“There are many businesses, executives and senior leaders from New Jersey’s wonderful Fortune 500 companies who are deciding to have corporate meetings on the shore,” she says.
“It seems like they woke up in January and said, I won’t have my Chicago meeting in Chicago – I’ll have it at the Jersey Shore.”
Wary Owners Reconsider Their Business PlansDespite a sense of optimism, business owners along the shore are viewing their options pragmatically.
Ferrara says while some of Tangerine Boutique’s neighbors have reopened shop, others have decided to close altogether.
“One woman was elderly, and she’s not reopening – she lost her house and her business, which was a woman’s clothing store with children’s clothing in the back,” says Ferrara.
And at Glide Surf Co., owner Philip Brown has decided to move his business from Ocean County’s Normandy Beach – where the shop experienced 6 inches of flooding – to Asbury Park in Monmouth County.
“Only a quarter of the residences are habitable in Normandy Beach,” says Brown. “I can’t imagine real commerce going on there for quite some time.
“With the lack of commerce, I think the economic effects of staying would have been tenfold the effects of the physical damage.”
Brown is choosing Monmouth County because he says it was “hit less hard than Ocean County.”
“They’re already up and running with the boardwalk by Memorial Day Weekend,” he says.
Countdown to Memorial Day: A Shore Readiness Report
Posted on
For Americans, Memorial Day weekend is the official start of the summer season. For New Jerseyans, that means heading down the Jersey Shore to their shore town of choice. But almost seven months after superstorm Sandy dealt a devastating blow to many parts of the Jersey Shore, visitors may wonder if the shore is ready for them. So we asked officials from the various shore towns for a status report on their ability to receive visitors beginning this weekend.
Asbury Park — Fully Ready
Although Director of Commerce Tom Gilmour said, “Business will never be as usual” after Hurricane Sandy, he said Asbury Park’s beaches and boardwalks opened May 18 for the summer season. While a few businesses remain closed for repairs, he said all will be open for Memorial Day weekend. He also said that officials have been monitoring the water for debris but haven’t found any.
Elaine Shapiro Zamansky, Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority:
“Atlantic City’s Tourism District had only minimal damage from Sandy. All of our roads, resorts and tourism attractions were open within days of the storm, and there are many new attractions opening this summer. Our beaches have been refurbished where necessary, our beach bars will be open starting Memorial Day Weekend, there are no water quality restrictions and our famous four-mile boardwalk is fully intact. The footage you saw of Atlantic City’s boardwalk damage during Sandy was misleading. That was a two-block section in a residential area that had already been damaged by other storms and was scheduled for demolition.”
For full destination information, including accommodations, attractions, dining, spas, nightlife and entertainment, visit www.doatlanticcitynj.com.
“Avalon is ready for Memorial Day weekend. In fact, we held a huge downtown community festival the day after Thanksgiving, and have been ready since then. There are zero visible signs that a hurricane came through our community last year. All streets, boardwalks, businesses, etc. are open and ready to go. The final road that opened did so about a month ago, a county-owned road to the Townsends Inlet Bridge between Avalon and Sea Isle City. Our beaches received a 302,000 cubic yard beachfill that ended on January 30. All tourist attractions and all beaches are open and ready for the summer. We have no repairs or water restrictions.”
Gov. Chris Christie and Belmar Mayor Matthew Doherty will reopen Belmar’s boardwalk and beach for the summer season Wednesday, May 22 with a ribbon cutting. The 1.3-mile boardwalk, which was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, has been rebuilt and officials expect business as usual in Belmar.
For more information about events and activities, visit www.belmar.com.
“Bradley Beach will be having a Memorial Day Parade along Ocean Avenue starting at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 25. The Memorial Day Committee will have their Annual Memorial Day Festival at the beachfront on both Saturday and Sunday, May 25 and May 26 with musical entertainment, food vendors, merchandise vendors along the beachfront walkway and kiddy rides.
Also, the newly-renovated Ship Wrecked Miniature Golf Course will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony around 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, May 25. The borough’s beachfront will be open including bathing, bathrooms and boardwalk area. The newly-renovated Children’s Playground is also open. However, access to the beach at the Third Avenue entrance will be closed. We anticipate that our concessions will be fully operating.”
In season (Memorial Day through Labor Day), you must have a beach tag to use Cape May’s beaches. Tags are required for all beachgoers 12 and over between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Beach tags are available at the City Hall Tax Office and at all beach entrances during the summer.
Michele Buckley, Office of Communications and Visitor Services, NJ Division of Parks and Forestry:
“Most areas have reopened with the exception of Ocean Bathing Area #1 which is currently closed to allow for demolition and reconstruction of the boardwalks. OBA #2 is open for public access. We anticipate reopening OBA #1 before July 4.”
“The Borough of Lavallette is open and operational. Our beach season opens June 22 which is when you will need beach badges. Badges are being sold every weekend. Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m. and Saturday, Sunday and Monday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Preseason badge price is $35.00. After June 17, they will be $45.00
Parking stickers for the bay front parking lots are $10.00 and they are required Memorial Day weekend to Labor day. Parking on our streets is free. We will be having Memorial Day Services on Monday, May 27 at 11 a.m. Most of our businesses are open. We have a link to the Lavallette Business Association to see exactly how many on our website. Our beaches and boardwalk are open but no lifeguards will be on duty until June 22.”
For information on beaches and town, visit lavallette.org.
The scene is much different on Long Beach Island now than it was days after Hurricane Sandy hit and it was mostly deserted. Long Beach Township Mayor Joseph Mancini said, “LBI is totally open for Memorial Day.” While some residences are still going through repairs, he said 95 percent of businesses are open and operating as normal. The beaches are clear, though he said lifeguards will not be on duty until June 15.
Business Administrator Howard Woolley said nearly all of Long Branch’s beaches and public access points will be open. Some of the beaches lost sand from Hurricane Sandy and Woolley said May is the month where it builds up. He explained that if it builds up enough, the beaches will open for the summer season. Businesses have been open since Sandy hit, according to Woolley, because Long Branch’s business area wasn’t hit hard. Part of the boardwalk was lost in the storm, but Woolley said a mile of boardwalk will be open for Memorial Day and a mile still needs to be rebuilt.
“Superstorm Sandy hit Ocean City, New Jersey hard. However, the city’s municipal recovery efforts began immediately. Ocean City fared much better than our northern neighbors and sustained no major damage to the City’s historic boardwalk or seven miles of beaches.
Although the downtown business district saw historic flood levels, almost all of the retail shops and restaurants have fully completed their flood remediation efforts and have been open for business. There are currently no road closures, boardwalk repairs, beach or water quality restrictions as a result of the storm.
The city recently hosted over 40,000 visitors for the annual Spring Block Party held May 4 in Ocean City’s downtown.”
Although FEMA denied funding to rebuild the boardwalk in Ocean Grove, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association (OGCMA) will open Ocean Grove’s beachfront starting Memorial Day weekend. “Since the storm, the Camp Meeting has made substantial progress towards restoring Ocean Grove’s beautiful beachfront, which is vital to the economic, recreational and spiritual well-being of our community,” OGCMA President Dr. Dale C. Whilden said. “Thanks to the support from our local, state and elected federal officials, as well as numerous individuals, private companies and community organizations, our beach will open Saturday, May 25 on schedule.”
Damage at Point Pleasant Beach was extensive after Hurricane Sandy, but the recovery effort was successful. The Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk will be complete Thursday, May 23 with most of the businesses back up and running. Everything is open at Jenkinson’s, including the boardwalk, beaches, rides and the aquarium. Martell’s Tiki Bar will also be open.
Sandy Hook experienced record flooding during Hurricane Sandy, which shut it down for months. The area reopened earlier this month and all Sandy Hook beaches will be open Memorial Day weekend, however, facilities will be limited. There will be no working bathrooms in the beach center buildings, only portable bathrooms. There will be no outdoor showers or food service. Visitors can bring food, but no glass bottles or barbecuing is allowed. The beaches do not have trash containers so visitors should plan to take all garbage with them. Officials hope as summer progresses, repairs can be made and facilities will reopen. The fee of $15 per car will still be in effect and lifeguards will be on duty starting Saturday, May 25.
Katherine Custer, Director, Sea Isle City Department of Community Services:
“I am happy to report that our town is fully prepared, and very eager, to welcome visitors this Memorial Day Weekend and throughout the 2013 summer season…
Our businesses are all open. Our Promenade/boardwalk is in perfect shape (our 1.5-mile long oceanfront Promenade is made of cement, thus, we don’t call it a boardwalk). And our beaches are full of sand and waiting to welcome swimmers and sun worshipers.”
Seaside Heights has undergone a successful recovery effort since Hurricane Sandy hit. The area was devastated after the storm. Rebuilding of the boardwalk began in February. According to Special Events Coordinator Michael Graichen, the beaches and businesses will be open for visitors Memorial Day weekend. “We are ready. Everything will be open,” he said.
Spring Lake’s boardwalk was ripped to pieces during the hurricane, but the beaches and boardwalk are now open for business. The boardwalk has been rebuilt, the beach is clear and the water is clean, according to officials.
Beach season opens with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, May 24. Stone Harbor Residents, visitors and businesses will hold a mile long ribbon along the Stone Harbor Beach from 106th to 87th Streets. Mayor Walters and Borough Council will cut the ribbon at 95th Street and the beach with members of the community followed by our traditional beach opening with Beach Patrol Captain, Sandy Bosacco.
Stone Harbor beach concession stands are back after a two-year hiatus and will include light refreshments daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
Uncle Bill’s Pancake House will be opening their doors for the first time since Super Storm Sandy arrived in October 2012. The Building and additional businesses, Green Cuisine and Eco Alley have had complete renovations since the storm and will be officially welcoming visitors this holiday weekend.
Borough officials said the beaches for sunbathers and beachgoers will not be open for the Memorial Day weekend. The beaches are expected to be open by the following weekend.
“We are completely open for business. We suffered almost little to no damage from Sandy. Looking forward to a great summer. This year is no different from prior years. No different.”
Jersey Shore Towns to Vacationers: We’re Still Here
Those in the summer realty business say LBI is suffering from a “perception problem”: Some would-be summer renters believe the island is in worse shape than it is
Mark O’Donnell usually books his family’s summer vacation in January. For the last dozen years, that meant reserving an oceanfront house for a week in Long Beach Island, a quiet cluster of beach towns on the New Jersey shore. But this January, he didn’t book the trip. He had Sandy on his mind.
The storm ripped through LBI in late October, but for months he watched the scenes of destruction replay on TV—the whitecaps lapping storefronts on the boulevard, the houses shifted and battered. So he put off vacation planning, too wary to book a trip to a place that might be nursing gaping wounds.
Each summer, families, couples, and carloads of friends migrate to one of the 40 shore towns that dot the coast of New Jersey for brief escapes to the ocean or bay. But this year, many people who have devotedly returned to the Jersey Shore each summer are grappling with the same question that conflicted the O’Donnells: Will it be the same as it used to be?
With Memorial Day around the corner, it’s a question that has taken on more urgency for prospective visitors finalizing their summer plans, and for those on the shore who depend on the seasonal influx of vacationers.
On Long Beach Island, one of the shore’s marquee summer destinations, the problem is playing out in the realm of summer real estate, a key industry for much of the Shore. Realtors and homeowners on the island say they’re seeing more rental vacancies than usual for this time of year and worry that the damage from Sandy got more attention than the cleanup.
“People think we’re Seaside Heights and we’re not,” says Joe Mancini, the mayor of Long Beach, the island’s largest township. Like others on LBI, he believes that images of lingering damage in Seaside and Mantoloking, LBI’s neighbors to the north, have sowed the flawed notion that the entire Jersey shore is still damaged.
“This was a horrific storm,” Mancini adds, “but we were aggressive in cleaning it up.”
Certainly, much of the island appears to be in good shape. Fresh signs and flags adorn shops and restaurants along the island’s main drag, letting passersby know they’ve re-opened. A hilltop of debris that was parked outside the Acme supermaket, a symbol of the island’s devestation, has been hauled away. The island’s main attractions, the pale sandy beaches, have been restored and will be open for the summer.
But some property owners are having trouble relaying that message to seasonal renters, still clinging to the images of flooding and mayhem.
Todd Cohan, a 46-year-old entrepreneur who has rented out properties on LBI since 1997, cannot remember a slower summer. Neither of his two luxury oceanfront homes suffered any flooding or damage and still, with just two weeks until Memorial Day, Cohan had vacancies for 40 percent of the season.
To attract prospective guests, he’s posted current images of his properties to real estate websites Homeaway.com and Beachrentals.net. He’s added a “pay by credit card” option to his listings, which is something he has never done before, and he estimates that he has emailed about 2,000 people—anyone who has ever inquired about either of his 5-bedroom properties—to see if they’d like to book a few nights.
So far, he’s gotten few positive responses. “They write back to say, ‘due to the devastation and destruction from Sandy’—What destruction? I want them to come down here and show me what they think the destruction is,” Cohan says.
Since the rentals are not his only source of income, he doesn’t expect the vacancies to cripple him, though he says he’ll certainly feel the impact. Each home goes for about $9,000 a week—money he puts toward his mortgages.
Weekly rates for rentals on LBI range in price from the high triple digits for inland cottages to more than $12,000 for exclusive oceanfront properties. While realtors say that the dip in demand has been seen across all price levels, luxury homes have taken it particularly hard.
“Normally, they go first,” said Matt Kulinski from the G. Anderson real estate agency. “The way the market works, in January and February, the high-end properties go.” But this year, he says, “it’s been the other way around.”
Vacancies are a concern for both homeowners and local businesses, which depend on a surge of summer income to last them through the slower season. LBI, an island with less than 12,000 residents, has more than 17,000 rental homes, which fill up each summer with visitors. In 2011, summertime tourists generated more than $1.2 billion in spending at restaurants, retail shops and other businesses in southern Ocean County, according to a report commissioned by the LBI Chamber of Commerce.
John Franzoni a realtor at Oceanside Realty who has been in the real estate business for the last 30 years, acknowledges that the storm was worse than any that has hit the island in generations, but doesn’t attribute the dip in rental demand to any real storm damage.
“It’s really because of the perception out there,” he said, noting that just 5 percent of his properties had to be delisted after the storm. “We’re in really good shape, we’re ready to go.”
Still, his rentals are down 20 percent from this time last year—a figure repeated at many agencies along the island—and he says the internet is partially to blame.
“Twenty years ago, on a Saturday or Sunday anytime after the Super Bowl, you’d have people lined up outside to look at rental properties,” he said, referring to the early February weekends when the wave of summer rental bookings begin. “Now, we do 80 or 90 percent of the rentals right over the internet. So that’s been a big change. If people were coming down, they would see the condition, but they only know what they’ve heard. And they’ve gotten a lot of bad reports.”
The island surely wasn’t spared. More than 3,300 applications for residential federal disaster assistance were submitted from Long Beach township alone—a township with just over 8,000 homes. And while the clean-up was aggressive, LBI still bears distinct Sandy scars. Oceanfront homes at the southern end of the island jut out of sand dunes on skinny trunks of exposed pilings. Dumpsters and construction signs still dot the island, particularly in the community of Holgate, which buzzes with the sounds of construction.
But for the most part, the sort of damage that might matter most to tourists has largely been repaired: The beaches have been cleaned and restored and Mayor Mancini says that 95 percent of LBI’s stores and restaurants will be open for business by Memorial Day.
To combat whatever negative impressions would-be visitors may be harboring, a group of LBI devotees organized a commercial aimed at New Jersey residents who may not have seen the island post-recovery. It began airing in early May on about a dozen networks, including Bravo, CNBC, Fox News and Nat Geo, after local businesses and the mayor’s office raised $50,000 for airtime.
While there’s no way to predict the impact the commercial and other publicity may have on wary visitors, rental prices point to optimism. Real estate agents say that homeowners have not lowered their prices just yet. (Cohan hasn’t either.)
Kulinski from the G. Anderson Agency predicts that warmer weather will bring more business to the rental market. “When it’s cold and windy and not really beach-like weather, [beach vacations] are put on the back burner.” He also thinks that prospective renters are waiting to see how much progress the island makes and will eventually commit.
O’Donnell did. After four months of vacillating, he took a daytrip to LBI to assess the storm damage for himself. He found his usual summer home in Holgate badly beaten, as he had expected. But he found plenty of other homes to choose from and settled on a 4-bedroom in Beach Haven, which he booked for a week in July.
“I was pleasantly pleased. The rest of the island seemed to be in decent shape,” he said, adding that he was happy to contribute to the island’s summer economy. “They’re working like demons to get it ready.”
America’s most trusted home improvement experts focus on NJ restorations and highlight best practices for coastal building
Months after Superstorm Sandy devastated shorelines on the East Coast, affected homeowners are still determining how to rebuild in a landscape of provisional FEMA regulations, delayed building permits and continued weather risks. During the anniversary month of Sandy, PBS’ Emmy® Award-winning home improvement series THIS OLD HOUSE® will premiere a special eight-episode series on October 3, 2013 focusing on three sets of homeowners rebuilding in Bay Head, Point Pleasant and Manasquan, New Jersey. Along with a multitude of side stories, THIS OLD HOUSE experts Norm Abram , Richard Trethewey , Roger Cook and host Kevin O’Connor will report on individual communities’ restoration efforts in the heart of New Jersey’s worst storm damage, and what the future holds for building along the coast.
“Our JERSEY SHORE special edition is not only timely but critical for those in need of insight for recovery,” says Michael Burton , executive producer for THIS OLD HOUSE television. “Just months after the devastation, THIS OLD HOUSE is arriving at the scene to offer 35 years of expertise in restoration and do our part to restore the Shore.”
THIS OLD HOUSE: JERSEY SHORE restoration projects will include an 1880s Shore Cottage in Bay Head, a 1950s Colonial inPoint Pleasant, and a prefabricated new house in Manasquan. Side stories will also feature Mantoloking, Long Beach Island,Ocean Grove and other local rebuilding projects along the beach and the bay.
“I was born and raised in New Jersey,” says host Kevin O’Connor. “So this one hits home for me. The locals here can’t imagine aNew Jersey without a vibrant Shore, so it is not a matter of ‘if’ they will rebuild but ‘how.’ We hope to highlight best practices that will resonate in other coastal communities around the country.”
Abram, Trethewey, Cook and O’Connor will take viewers to the wild frontier of mold remediation, breakaway walls, house raising, and state-of-the-art pile driving. They will consult environmental experts, government officials, engineers, local builders and determined homeowners from all walks of life, to present a realistic and heartfelt portrait of a region struggling to rebuild smarter, better, and stronger, one house at a time.
“Throughout the country, extreme weather is clearly on the rise,” says senior series producer, Deborah Hood . “And while you can’t hold back Mother Nature, you can design and build houses and communities in a way that helps to save lives when the next storm comes. We’ll follow the progress from the front lines as these special communities struggle to come back.”
Featuring eight brand-new episodes,THIS OLD HOUSE: JERSEY SHOREwill premiere nationally on PBS on October 3, 2013(check www.thisoldhouse.com/tvschedule or your local listings) at the start of the series’ 34th national season. Viewers will be able to watch full new THIS OLD HOUSE episodes Sundays at 7 p.m. after each show premieres atwww.thisoldhouse.com/watchTOH.
In the months leading up to premiere, visitors to www.thisoldhouse.com can access exclusive behind-the-scenes videos from the New Jersey projects and other locations along the shore. And, for the first time ever, host Kevin O’Connor will be blogging atoldhousemyhouse.thisoldhouse.com. Special features, such as a photo gallery, project overviews, products and services information, and a webcam will be available on www.thisoldhouse.com. Viewers can become fans of THIS OLD HOUSE onFacebook or follow the show on Twitter.
THIS OLD HOUSE is produced by THIS OLD HOUSE Productions, Inc., for THIS OLD HOUSE Ventures, Inc., and is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston. Vice President of Television Operations is Michael Burton . Senior series producer is Deborah Hood. Series creator is Russell Morash . THIS OLD HOUSE is the No. 1 multimedia home enthusiast brand, offering trusted information and expert advice through award-winning television, a highly regarded magazine and an information-driven Web site. THIS OLD HOUSE Ventures, Inc., is a business of Time Inc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner.
WGBH Boston is America’s preeminent public broadcasting producer—PBS’s leading source of content for television and the Web (prime-time, children’s, and lifestyle programs) and a major supplier of programs heard nationally on public radio and online. For more information, visit www.wgbh.org.
It’s worse than I expected. I saw all the news reports about Super Storm Sandy on TV, of course, and talked with friends and family about their experiences. But that didn’t prepare me for what I’m seeing. Actually standing amid the ruin is an entirely different experience than seeing it on the news.
One of my first stops today is Mantoloking, N.J. a place considered by many to be “ground zero” for the storm. I walk along the coastline, with its pristine white Jersey sand and fresh tracks from the heavy equipment used to groom the beach. But right next to the perfect beaches of my childhood are huge piles of debris. No, wait — that’s wrong. The debris isn’t next to the beach, it ison top of it. There is no “land” here; it’s all beach. It’s all sand, broken up in places by asphalt or stones or wooden decks, but under that, it’s just more sand. And the piles aren’t debris – they are entire houses, or what’s left of them. You know it’s a house because, well, what else could it be? You can see the roof, the doors, the wires, and the furniture. But it’s all mixed up and tangled. It’s deeply unsettling.
Jersey pride is on display everywhere.
And it’s everywhere. House after house destroyed, piled up like yard waste after a spring cleanup. The houses that aren’t completely shredded are tilting or cracked, in some unnatural state. And they are all deserted, even the ones that appear intact. If they didn’t fall down or get washed away they took on water. They’re uninhabitable. Where are the people?
Six Months Report after Superstorm Sandy: From Pre-Disaster to Recovery
Timeline, milestones in response and recovery, before-and-after photos and videos plus data on disaster assistance, debris removal and other aspects of disaster operations.
Oct. 22 Tropical Storm Sandy forms.
Oct. 24 Storm strengthens to Category 1 Hurricane.
Oct. 27 Sandy weakens to Tropical Storm.
Oct. 28 Re-intensifies to Category 1 Hurricane.
Oct. 28 The President declares an emergency for the state of New Jersey.
Oct. 29 Sandy briefly strengthens to Category 2 hurricane. From Oct. 30 to Nov. 5, twenty-four states from Florida to Maine and as far west as Michigan and Wisconsin are impacted.
Oct. 29 Sandy makes landfall as a tropical storm near Brigantine, New Jersey.
IMPACTS
New Jersey and New York take the brunt of Sandy’s assault.
There are 2.7 million power outages in New Jersey alone.
There is widespread damage to the transportation infrastructure.
Phone, cable and other communication lines are disrupted.
Operations at 2 oil refineries, 11 petroleum terminals and 2 petroleum pipelines are disrupted.
8.5 million cubic yards of mixed debris which includes 2.5 million cubic yards of sand and silt deposited on road and waterways, impeding travel.
Houses along miles of New Jersey coastline are severely damaged or destroyed by wind and flooding.
More than 37,000 primary residences and approximately 9,300 rental units receive major damage.
Businesses in 113 of 565 New Jersey municipalities experience a combined $382 million in commercial property loss.
Natural gas supply lines on barrier islands are completely destroyed, sustaining an estimated $97 million in damage.
Within days, mold becomes a problem in unoccupied houses without electricity, creating a health hazard.
RESPONSE
2 FEMA National Incident Management Assistant Teams (IMAT) and 1 regional IMAT team report to the disaster pre-landfall.
14 Emergency Support Functions, Federal Disaster Response Coordination activated.
16 FEMA Mobile Communications Office Vehicles are deployed.
Mobile Emergency Response Support sends 34 personnel and vehicles.
650 personnel from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers respond to the disaster to conduct draining of sewage treatment facilities, mobilization of 100 strike teams for debris clearance, transport and installation of generators. Team receives 335 requests for generators; 106 are installed at the peak of the emergency.
On Nov. 1, 2012, in the immediate response to the New Jersey disaster, FEMA’s Community Relations specialists start circulating through storm-ravaged neighborhoods to offer assistance and informational materials in nine languages. On Nov. 5, 432 specialists and 222 FEMA Corps members are in some of the most heavily impacted areas of the state.
Debris clearance crews remove debris from roadways and make repairs to restore power to traffic signals.
520 personnel assist with tree removal, clearing 728 miles of roads and access routes.
113 emergency shelters open, serving 6,477 storm survivors at the peak of the disaster.
RESPONSE AND RECOVERY
As of April 23, 2013:
Total federal allocations for Superstorm Sandy Response and Recovery in New Jersey:
$1.1 billion
Total amount approved for Housing and Other Needs Assistance: $388 million
Total Federal Share Obligated for Public Assistance: $262.9 million
Housing Assistance:
FEMA has approved more than $334 million in housing assistance grants to help repair or replace housing damaged or destroyed by Superstorm Sandy, with an average housing assistance award of $6,088 per applicant.
FEMA issued a mission assignment through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct/renovate 114 temporary housing units at Fort Monmouth, a former military base, at an estimated cost of $3.3 million.
Individual Assistance:
89,025 New Jersey residents have visited FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers.
More than 60,500 registrations have been approved for assistance.
More than 480 volunteer agencies were active in the disaster recovery effort, reporting a total of 866,400 volunteer hours which equaled nearly $24 million in work value.
14 Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster are now working on long-term recovery projects in New Jersey, including the American Red Cross, the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and Church World Service.
Other Needs Assistance:
FEMA approved more than $53.4 million dollars in Other Needs Assistance to 18,433 Sandy survivors.
Transitional Sheltering Assistance:
FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program has provided transitional shelter to more
than 5,500 Sandy Survivors.
FEMA has provided a total of 195,000 room nights in 435 hotels and motels at a cost of more than $23 million, while displaced survivors developed permanent housing solutions.
Disaster Unemployment Assistance
3,365 applications for disaster unemployment assistance were approved.
More than $4 million in disaster unemployment assistance has been provided to Sandy survivors who became unemployed as a result of the storm.
Public Assistance:
1,707 requests for Public Assistance were received from the public sector and private nonprofit organizations.
FEMA and the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management held 1,420 kickoff meetings with eligible applicants. A kickoff meeting includes a one-on-one session that establishes the partnership among FEMA, the state and the applicant.
More than $262.9 million in federal share dollars has been obligated to the state of New Jersey primarily for Category A (debris removal) and Category B (emergency protective measures) assistance.
Ninety-nine percent of Right-of-Way debris totaling more than 8.5 million cubic yards has been removed, with the remaining 1 percent slated for removal by early May.
Out of 2,879 Subgrant applications, 2,051 have been obligated so far. Eligible subgrantees include state and local governments and private nonprofits such as medical, educational, utility, emergency and custodial care facilities that apply to the state for reimbursement of eligible disaster related expenditures.
FEMA has assisted applicants with 84 projects totaling $79 million for boardwalk and beach repair including boardwalks, emergency protective measures, marinas, bulkheads and sea walls.
A few projects currently under construction expected to be open to the public by Memorial Day include:
$19 million for the Atlantic Highlands harbor reconstruction of the marina
$12 million for reconstruction of the Belmar boardwalk, and
$7.6 million for the reconstruction of the Seaside Heights boardwalk.
Operations:
FEMA Operations has activated 430 Mission Assignments in support of the State in response to Superstorm Sandy and obligated $100 million in direct federal assistance and $40 million in federal operating support and technical assistance.
Mitigation:
Disaster Recovery Centers counseled 23,465 applicants on Mitigation techniques.
Mitigation conducted outreach in 28 building supply stores along the coastal area.
Mitigation technical assistance was provided to 406 Federal, State and local stakeholders to identify mitigation opportunities with 1,300 site visits completed to date.
New Jersey property owners have received $3.2 billion in National Flood Insurance Program payments for damages caused by flooding from Superstorm Sandy.
FEMA Corps:
In addition to extensive work with Community Relations in the recovery, thirteen FEMA Corps teams with 114 members currently are working at the New Jersey JFO.
Most Corps Members are working in a Public Assistance capacity. Other Corps Members are working at the JFO in External Affairs, Logistics, Planning, Individual Assistance and Federal Disaster Recovery Coordination.
External Affairs:
In addition to the massive neighborhood-by-neighborhood outreach effort in response to Superstorm Sandy, FEMA’s CR specialists have contacted more than 100,000 individuals, 25,000 businesses and 10,000 Faith and Community-based organizations.
Private Sector specialists have engaged with 555 Private Sector stakeholders, disseminating electronic disaster assistance information to 5.8 million New Jerseyans, focusing on business continuity and preparedness. The New Jersey Business and Industry Association disseminated FEMA information via utility bills to more than 21,000 members and 1.3 million employees.
FEMA’s Intergovernmental Affairs specialists have connected with more than 900 community leaders, handled 215 questions and referrals from mayors and other city officials, has assisted the governor’s staff in establishing a state IGA department and has worked closely with public officials on key issues such as Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps, NFIP, Repetitive Loss Inspections and other community concerns.
Congressional Affairs staff continues outreach activity to the New Jersey Congressional delegation and has responded to more than 775 inquiries regarding constituent issues related to Superstorm Sandy.
Planning and Products section has produced more than 500 individual communications including 140 news releases, 70 public service announcements, 10 recovery bulletins, 12 flyers, 5 brochures and 40 Congressional updates. FEMA Speakers Bureau has hosted 229 community events reaching 33,227 individuals with recovery information.
The Joint Information Center has fielded more than 9,000 media inquiries and currently averages about 28 media interviews per week. The NJ FEMA twitter handle has 3, 237 followers, has produced 780 tweets, and averages six tweets and seven re-tweets per tweet.
Small Business Administration
SBA has approved more than $731 million in low-interest disaster loans to homeowners, renters and businesses.
$606 million of that figure was loaned to residential applicants.
Then and Now
This Mantoloking home was knocked off its foundation by Superstorm Sandy. The homeowners chose to elevate their home to mitigate against future disasters.
In Seaside Heights, the historic boardwalk was severely damaged and debris lined the beach after Superstorm Sandy. While the iconic roller coaster remains until a contractor can remove it, the boardwalk is being rebuilt and debris has been removed from the beach.
Superstorm Sandy left debris strewn across this area in Beach Haven Inlet. Six month later, the area is largely free of debris.
After Superstorm Sandy, the south end of the bridge in Avon by the Sea was closed. Now, the bridge is open and structures have returned to normal.
The Lifeguard Station in Sandy Hook was surrounded by piles of sand after Superstorm Sandy. These piles of sand have been removed and relocated six months later.
After Superstorm Sandy, the lawn of a Sea Bright home was completely covered in debris. With the help of FEMA in collaboration with state and local partners, homes like this one have had debris removed from their yards.
Source of this article can be found here: FEMA.gov
Six months after Sandy: ‘Home Sweet Home’ for some, others still adrift.
Six months after Superstorm Sandy slammed into the Jersey Shore, a heavily damaged home in Mantiloking sits untouched.
By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News
BREEZY POINT, N.Y. — The construction noises are almost constant at daytime in this coastal enclave six months after Hurricane Sandy, but for many residents whose homes were badly damaged, recovery is moving at a slow pace – or not at all.
Many of those displaced by the so-called superstorm say they are stuck in limbo, trying to raise money to pay for repairs or replace their homes while coming to grips with new, federal flood-zone maps that many fear will make it too costly for them to return.
“We’re no better off than we were six months ago,” said Kieran Burke, a fire marshal who lost his home to a massive fire that erupted at the height of the storm. ” … I’d like to have an idea when I can tell my wife our children can go home.”
Burke’s dilemma is not unique to hard-hit Breezy Point, where more than 75 percent of the homes were either consumed by fire or suffered flood damage.
Some 39,000 people in New Jersey remain displaced by the storm, Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday. The number of New Yorkers still out of their homes is unclear, though federal officials said 350 households in the affected region are still getting money for hotel or motel stays.
“We’ve just got the tip of the iceberg in terms of the amount of work that needs to be done,” said Michael Byrne, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s senior official in New York state for the Sandy response and recovery.
Though people now have some resources to rebuild, he said, they “still have some tough questions to answer … especially people that are in high-risk areas: ‘How do I rebuild?’ or ‘Do I leave, do I seek a buyout?’ So, there’s still a lot of tough issues to be worked out.”
While some neighbors are almost ready to move back home, others are still unsure how much of their property can be rebuilt following the storm.
Sandy wreaked havoc in the Caribbean before blasting ashore on Oct. 29 near Brigantine, N.J., leaving more than 100 people dead in the U.S. alone. Nearly 74,000 homes and apartments in New York and New Jersey, where it made landfall on Oct. 29, sustained damage, according to FEMA.
Some 450 homes in New York were destroyed by the storm, while approximately 46,000 in New Jersey were destroyed or sustained major damage, according to FEMA.
FEMA has given more than $1.3 billion to more than 180,000 Sandy victims in Maryland, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York. The National Flood Insurance Program has paid more than $7.1 billion in claims.
Some survivors whose homes sustained minor damage quickly returned home, as did some others who were able to shelter in place while they repaired and rebuilt.
But in devastated communities like the Irish-American enclave of Breezy Point, many residents had to wait for the gas, power and water to be restored and insurance funds to come through — if they did — while still paying mortgages plus rent.
“Some families and some lives have come back together quickly and well and some people are up and running,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last week. “Some people are still very much in the midst of the recovery. You still have people in hotel rooms. You still have people doubled up. You still have people fighting with insurance companies, and for them it’s been terrible and horrendous.”
That seems a fitting description of Karly and Anthony Carozza’s situation in their neighborhood in Brick Township, N.J., which is dotted with “for sale” signs. Reconstruction work immediately ground to a halt in January, when FEMA released initial drafts of its new flood maps, which placed the community into the highest risk zone, they said.
Karly Carrozza and her husband, Anthony, can’t start the rebuilding in Brick Township, N.J., until FEMA’s flood zone map — and the guidelines that come with it — are finalized.
If the maps are finalized as drawn, residents’ homes would have to be raised 11 feet and placed on pilings. Some state residents who don’t meet the requirements could face flood insurance premiums of up to $31,000 a year, according to Gov. Christie.
“The cost to put this on pilings would not be worth the value of the house. It wouldn’t make any sense,” Anthony Carozza, 34, an equities trader, said this month of their small home on a lagoon.
But the couple would have to pay off their $300,000 mortgage if they wanted to demolish the house and start anew.
“We’re all kind of in the same boat in a sense that until they have the final maps come out we can’t make any decisions,” Karly Carozza, 36, an account executive, said.
She has joined a group of New Jersey citizens facing the same difficult choices — called Stop FEMA Now — to advocate for changes to the flood maps. They also have recently ventured to New York City to band forces with homeowners there.
She feels if they don’t act, their coastal community will never be the same.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a bill has been reintroduced in New York that would provide legal protection for architects who volunteer their services during disasters. New York Assemblyman Steve Englebright, the bill’s sponsor hopes it will be voted on by June. NBCNews.com’s Dara Brown speaks with Englebright and also Lance Brown of the American Institute of Architects about the proposal.
“You could be in the middle class and enjoy a house on the water and I just feel like that’s all going to change because a lot of the people around us who are going to walk away — their homes are worth nothing,” she said. People who could afford to put the houses up to code “are going to come in and just scoop up the property,” she added.
In the meantime, the couple is staying nearby with Karly’s parents to avoid paying rent in addition to their mortgage. Tarp and plastic cover part of the inside of their home, which took in a few feet of water.
“There’s people whose homes look much worse than ours, but it’s almost like we’re in no different of a predicament because our hands are tied,” Karly said. “We can’t make any decisions, we can’t move back. …We’re in no different a predicament today than we were the day after the storm.”
Shifting sands have covered nearly all remnants of Kieran Burke’s bungalow in Breezy Point.
The family home, which sat for decades on what were known as the “sand lanes” in this idyllic seaside community, burned to the ground with nearly 130 other residences in the fire – the largest in the city’s modern history – that was triggered by the storm.
Kieran and Jennifer Burke, with 2-year-old Kieran Jr., visit the lot where their home stood before it burned to the ground the night that Hurricane Sandy hit.
Located in one of the older parts of the private cooperative, Burke’s home, like those of his neighbors, wasn’t fronted on a city-mapped street. That means he will need approval from the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals on rebuilding plans.
The agency has vowed to expedite the process, and the Breezy Point Cooperative is working with architects to design homes that will meet expected new city building requirements, as well as those from the flood maps – a preliminary version of which should be released in the coming weeks. So Burke is still waiting to break ground.
“It’s devastating. It’s angering,” he said of the shifting planning landscape. “I’m paying a mortgage on an empty plot of land, we’re paying rent in a place that we’re displaced in, that I have no conception of when I’m going to have the ability to move out of.”
Burke, a New York City fire marshal, and his wife, Jennifer, both 40, have a two-year-old son, Kieran Junior, and they just welcomed another boy, Matthew, a little more than two weeks ago. They’ve been living in an office converted into an apartment in Yonkers, north of Manhattan and about an hour’s drive from Breezy Point.
“It doesn’t really seem to look any different than when I was here before, and I would have thought at least some of the other parts of it would have progressed a bit,” Jennifer Burke, a pharmaceutical research manager, said this month as she stood on the spot where her kitchen used to stand. “We’re just still waiting and still hoping. … The hardest part is just not knowing.”
A few blocks away, in a corner of the community facing Jamaica Bay, the Fischers have moved back into their two-story home, even though it sits amid empty lots where neighbors once lived and is still being worked on.
Christina and Barry Fischer, parents of five children, broke their lease early from a rental in northern Queens in late March because their FEMA rental aid ran out and they had expenses piling up (the FEMA money later came through).
Some painting, tiling, sanding and cabinet work is among what remains to be done on the first floor, but now their children – ranging in age from 5 to 15 – can ride their bikes on Breezy Point’s quiet streets, go to church or the store by themselves, play on the beach and catch up with friends who have returned.
When asked how it was to be home, one of the children, William, 10, exclaimed “Great!” as he snacked on Mallomars. “I can actually go outside.”
Georgia Fischer, 5, sifts sand with beach toys. She has Charcot Marie Tooth Disease, a common nerve disorder that can make it hard to walk, and apraxia, a speech disorder. Her parents had to re-arrange therapy and classes for her in the wake of the storm.
Nonetheless, the road has been hard, with Christina Fischer, 35, taking leave from her job as an adjunct professor at St. John’s University in Queens to focus on rebuilding, including battling with the insurance over money and fighting for months to get help from the city’s “Rapid Repairs” program.
That program, a first-ever federal-local initiative, offered to install free boilers, hot water heaters and do the necessary electrical work to restore power, but many who applied encountered long delays and sloppy workmanship when they did get service.
The family also has two special needs children whose classes and therapy sessions had to be re-arranged in the aftermath as people were displaced and classrooms flooded.
But the Fischers weren’t complaining in early April when a reporter met with them to take stock of how far they’d come. Tim, 7, pushed his bike through the sand, Georgia, 5, watched a movie on a computer tablet and the family dog, Scout, sat atop a pile of laundry as Barry Fischer, a 45-year-old electrician, tested out the new washer and dryer.
“The three greatest words in the English language: home sweet home,” Barry said. “There … is nothing better.”
Source of this article can be found here: NBCNEWS.com
Key figures on Superstorm Sandy, 6 months later
-The Associated Press
Flags decorate a fence Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Brick, N.J., around the burned remains of more than 60 small bungalows at Camp Osborn which were destroyed last October during Superstorm Sandy. Six months after Sandy devastated the Jersey shore and New York City and pounded coastal areas of New England, the region is dealing with a slow and frustrating, yet often hopeful, recovery. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
The Jet Star roller coaster rests in the ocean Thursday, April 25, 2013, in Seaside Heights, N.J., near the rebuilding of the boardwalk. Six months after Superstorm Sandy, the roller coaster that plunged off a pier in Seaside Heights is still in the ocean, although demolition plans are finally moving forward. The region is dealing with a slow and frustrating, yet often hopeful, recovery. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Superstorm Sandy, a hybrid of a hurricane and two cold-weather systems, struck on Oct. 29, concentrating most of its fury on New Jersey, New York and Connecticut and becoming one of the most expensive storms in history. Six months later, the region is still recovering and the scope of the storm has come into sharper focus. Figures are as of April 26.
DEATHS: The National Hurricane Center attributes 72 deaths in the United States directly to Sandy and 87 more indirectly, from causes such as hypothermia due to power outages, carbon monoxide poisoning and accidents during cleanup efforts, for a total of 159.
DAMAGE: The Hurricane Center estimated Sandy’s damage at $50 billion, second only to the $108 billion caused by Hurricane Katrina in Gulf Coast states in 2005. Congress approved more than $60 billion in storm aid for Sandy victims and their communities.
HOUSING AID: The Federal Emergency Management Agency has paid out $959 million for housing assistance and $848 million to communities and nonprofit groups in New York state, and $387.4 million in housing grants and $263 million to communities and nonprofit groups in New Jersey.
DISASTER LOANS: The Small Business Administration has made $1.4 billion in disaster loans for homeowners, renters and businesses in New York, and $731 million in New Jersey.
FLOOD INSURANCE: The National Flood Insurance Program has paid $3.4 billion in claims in New York, and another $3.3 billion in New Jersey.
UTILITIES: Jersey Central Power & Light says 1.3 million customers lost power in New Jersey. It cut 65,000 trees to help restore power, fixed 34,000 downed wires and put up 6,700 new utility poles. In New York, Consolidated Edison has strung 60 miles of new electrical cable after the storm and eventually restored power to more than 1 million customers.
Sources: National Hurricane Center, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Jersey Central Power & Light, Con Ed
Southern section of Seaside Heights boardwalk set to open this week
The southern section of the Seaside Heights boardwalk could reopen as early as Wednesday.Lisa Rose/The Star-Ledger
For the past six months, the goal in Seaside Heights was to rebuild the town’s boardwalk by Memorial Day.
Contractors are working ahead of schedule, however, and a section of wooden walkway could be open by the end of this week, said Mike Loundy, director of community improvements.
“It’s our hope to have the southern section of the boardwalk open by Friday or Saturday,” Loundy said today. “We’re anxious to reopen. Our vendors are anxious. Our customers are anxious. Nothing is written in stone, but we’re optimistic that we can have a three- to five-block section open to the public.”
Temporary railings are being installed so tourists can stroll on the boardwalk from Webster Avenue south to Seaside Park, but
there won’t be beach access before Memorial Day. Loundy said he is confident the northern section of the boardwalk will be completed by the holiday deadline.
In January, work had yet to begin on the Seaside Heights boardwalk.Lisa Rose/The Star-Ledger
“Over the last week and over the next week, we’re going to receive somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000 pieces of lumber,” said Loundy, who also runs Seaside Realty. “It’s coming from all over the country. We expect to pick up speed with the lumber deliveries. The northern part of the boardwalk is 20 feet narrower than the southern end, so that will go faster. All the piles are in. The heavy lifting is done.”
Meanwhile, the submerged Jet Star roller coaster is on track to be removed from the water before Memorial Day.
“We’re optimistic within the next two weeks, possibly sooner, it will begin to be taken out,” Loundy said.
Loundy said he doesn’t know where the carnival ride, or pieces of it, will wind up. The coaster is owned by the Casino Pier amusement park, not the borough.
“It’s a pretty hot commodity,” said Loundy. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it turns into souvenirs of some form.”
Danny Merk, owner of the Shore Store shown on MTV’s “Jersey Shore,” said he’ll be sad to see the Jet Star go. His shop’s in the northern section of the boardwalk near the coaster.
“I’d like to see it stay in the water,” Merk said. “For the north end, it’s a little bit slower on the boardwalk and the Jet Star is an attraction. People love to take pictures of it. People have a lot of memories about it, and I’d like to keep it this summer. We lost a lot of roller coasters, a lot of rides. Every day, people ask me, ‘How can I get a picture of that?’ ”
The Jet Star is being salvaged by Weeks Marine, a Cranford-based contractor that operates the area’s largest floating crane. The company’s giant crane lifted the “Miracle on the Hudson” plane out of the water in 2009. The same piece of equipment was used to lower the space shuttle Enterprise onto the flight deck of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum last spring.
A home damaged by Superstorm Sandy in Union Beach, N.J., sits on a raised platform to protect it from future flooding.
Mel Evans/AP
Superstorm Sandy pummeled the East Coast six months ago, and, as with other natural disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency was there from day one, finding people temporary shelter and later supporting rebuilding efforts.
FEMA also has a lesser-known role. It oversees the creation of flood maps, which model the risk of flooding in different areas during storms. These maps are also used to set building codes and flood insurance rates. In New York and New Jersey, FEMA is updating those maps, and so far many homeowners don’t like what they are seeing.
‘Flying By The Seat Of Their Pants’
Sitting in a makeshift office in his garage, George Kasimos is “FEMA-ing.” That’s what he calls the research and organizing he does with a group he started called Stop FEMA Now.
“FEMA is flying by the seat of their pants,” Kasimos says, “and we have to rebuild our homes with their seat-of-their-pants rules and regulations.”
The first floor of his house in Toms River, N.J., flooded during the storm and he had to gut it. He says the construction could have been done in January, but he stopped work for a few months when FEMA released a new version of its flood maps, which are used to set insurance rates.
“I thought I was on that show Punk’d, to be honest. I just didn’t believe it,” he says.
Kasimos figured if he doesn’t raise his home by 4 feet, his flood insurance would go from $1,000 per year to $15,000 per year. Because on these new maps, Kasimos is now in what’s called a Velocity Zone, or V Zone. This means that in a “hundred-year storm,” FEMA modeling predicts waves three feet or higher would hit his home.
Kasimos is supposed to elevate and put his house on pilings, which means lifting it off its foundation, moving it out of the way, and plunging big telephone poles into the ground for his house to sit atop. But Kasimos lives on a lagoon, not the open ocean. So he thinks he should be in an A Zone, at risk for flooding, but not wave damage. In an A Zone, he’d still elevate, but he could skip the costly pilings.
“In an A Zone, it cost about $50,000 for an average home … for a V Zone, it’s about $150,000,” he says.
Kasimos took his plight to Facebook, and now has more than 3,500 likes for his group; they’ve started meeting near-weekly.
Literally A Work In Progress
“We do anticipate the V Zone in certain areas becoming smaller, it is an advisory product,” FEMA’s Bill McDonnell says.
McDonnell says he agrees the maps are a work in progress. When Sandy hit, FEMA was already two years into a project to update the flood maps, which in some areas dated back to the 1980s. It generally takes 3-5 years to finish, but FEMA decided to release an early version, like a rough draft, so that people could have the most recent data available to decide how to rebuild.
“[It was] just out there for informational purposes, and then the state of New Jersey adopted it as a land use policy,” he says, “so that if people were going to rebuild, they have to rebuild to that standard.”
So the “advisory” maps basically became building code for repairing properties that have substantial storm damage. The state didn’t want people to rebuild based on old data and have to lift their houses higher later.
FEMA says the maps will change, but the number of people affected and the requirements for rebuilding will only decrease when the maps are finalized. That leaves Jersey Shore homeowners, like Kasimos, to decide whether to do work on their homes now that they may find out later wasn’t actually needed.
Kasimos has decided to rebuild without elevating for now. He’s trying to fix only what he has to in order to get back to normal. Even then, he’s still doing work he’ll have to tear up when he eventually elevates.
“[I'm] going to have to take apart the deck, my stairs, the siding, things like that, absolutely,” he says.
FEMA says it understands the urgency and is moving as fast as it can. It expects to start releasing a new version of the maps county by county, perhaps as early as June.
The southern section of the Seaside Heights boardwalk could reopen as early as Wednesday.Lisa Rose/The Star-Ledger
In January, work had yet to begin on the Seaside Heights boardwalk.Lisa Rose/The Star-Ledger
