Jersey Shore Magazine

JERSEY SHORE PEOPLE continued from page 79 Left: The Human Suffering, September 2013 – Three empty lots where there used to be homes on South Drive in Brick Township. Seven houses have been torn down on the street and numerous others have been abandoned, their future uncertain. One home has been raised and another newly constructed raised home is in progress. Numerous additional homes are still under construction and are being repaired. Opposite page: Just south of Harding Avenue, south Ortley Beach, after the Superstorm. j e r s e y s h o r e • F a l l / H o l i d a y 2 0 1 3 Photo by David Turton from his new book "Aftermath - Images Of Superstorm Sandy At The Jersey Shore" (Volume I - Ocean County). 80 On the other side of the strip are the houses that were only bungalows in my youth. Over the years, they slowly morphed into two-and-threestoried oceanside mini-mansions. As I walk along looking at the houses, a chill disturbs my serenity. In some spaces there exist no homes, just sand where they once stood. In others, there are houses still in need of major repairs. When I think about it, it's amazing that the Jersey Shore had come back as far as it did for the summer season. But there are still too many houses and people that are not coming back. The overplayed story in the media that the boardwalks are restored—that the shore is "Stronger Than the Storm"—is a very small part of what is really happening here. These reporters need to take a drive down Route 35 or Barnegat Lane in Mantoloking to see a small part of the storm's ultimate reality. The destruction of the storm does not just apply to infrastructure. There are thousands of people whose lives have been irrevocably damaged by Sandy. This is their story. Dr. Floyd Moreland had retired to Ortley Beach after working on the Seaside Boardwalk Carousel as a young man. In later life, he and some of his family lovingly restored the one-hundred-year-old, historic Carousel, which was supposed to be sold. However, after giving it new life, he became its "keeper." Now, in the last chapter of his life, he doesn't know if he'll be able to restore his own home and life as he had lived it before the storm. Ironically, this is a man who had always loved to watch a storm blow in from the sea. His was one of the 7,665 homes in all of Toms River, of which Ortley is a part, that were damaged. Of that number, 898 were severely damage and 922 received major damages. Many other Ocean County towns were impacted by the storm: Seaside Heights saw a total of 968 damaged homes; in Seaside Park, the total is 1,058. Vacant lots have replaced many of the severely damaged homes, and the people who lived in these homes are still displaced. A retired teacher friend of mine who lived on the bayside in Seaside Park had never had a flooding problem in the forty-plus years she had been a resident. Her home is a Cape Cod-style, which she had just recently refurnished and redecorated prior to Sandy. During the storm, she was forced to evacuate to her son's home on the mainland in Toms River. What she thought would be just a day or two turned into several weeks. When she was finally allowed to board a bus to "grab and go" with her worldly possessions (in the allotted hour permitted), she realized her time away from her home was going to be much longer. Luckily, her son had a rental cottage, and there she lived without television, internet, or landline for the next nine months. While waiting in this limbo, she was overwhelmed with uncertainty about how to repair and replace everything on her first floor living area. She described the feeling as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. She did not qualify for FEMA funds, so she had to use whatever insurance money and savings she had to repair the damage. Not having a mortgage, she chose not to raise the level of her home because she could not afford it. There are thousands of stories like this. Many are faced with having to leave the Shore they love forever. They have either lost everything or they do not have enough money to rebuild and/or raise their homes to the height that is being put upon them by the government. Grants and loans are not all available, and what is available just does not cover the costs. These people lost many parts of their lives that they will never again recapture. Among these are posses-

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