The "Reclaiming Ocean City, NJ" Story

You can see the many boards that
had to be replaced on the boardwalk.

It was an ordinary day.  Walking the boardwalk before breakfast to get a newspaper.  That is one of the daily routines that I do when I travel to Ocean City, NJ for a summer vacation with my family.  Today I make a special effort to try to ask a few questions about the recovery of Ocean City from Hurricane Sandy that struck the northeastern seaboard of the USA last October.  Not many people around, but I do find one gentleman who is keeping tabs on the golf balls and scorecards at Goofy Golf.  He told me that three weeks ago, or late May, the water was under the boardwalk where I was standing while talking to him.  He gave some scary pictures as to what the area looked like after the storm hit.  Total destruction of quite a few neighboring blocks.  Luckily, the large majority of the boardwalk was not affected.  He told of the many volunteers from just about everywhere in the country who came and pitched in to help those whose homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed.  One of the main thoroughfares, Asbury Avenue, had a foot of water covering it and seeping into the storefronts, but within 6 weeks many of the businesses were up and running again.  He told me the hurricane showed how friends and total strangers can conquer just about anything.  As I walked the boardwalk I noticed very little that would show that a Super Hurricane had made a visit to this resort town about a half year ago.  Some sections of the boardwalk were replaced with new lumber and the beach is still dotted with large equipment that was used for the rebuilding of the beach.  The beach had to be rebuilt by pumping in the sand from the ocean.  The sand was pumped onto huge piles along the beachfront and then the heavy equipment was used to level it out.  The beach is about twice as wide as I remember it which makes it twice as far to walk to reach it after walking onto it from the boardwalk.  The sand is filled with millions of seashells, mostly broken or partially broken.  I spoke to one woman who was volunteering with a metal detector to scan the beach for nails, pieces of metal, and any thing hazardous that might hurt a beach goer.  She had uncovered a piece of 2x8 wood with large nails sticking out of it a few days ago, pumped onto the beach from offshore.  She had tales also about what the beach looked like just a few weeks ago. For weeks now I have been seeing commercials on TV advertising New Jersey as "Stronger Than The Storm" and featuring Governor Chris Christie telling viewers that New Jersey shore points are ready for their return.  

The depth of the beach is much greater.

Most people I talked to were in favor of using the $25 million it took for the ads to show vacationers that the beaches were back in shape.  Many though thought that Christie didn't need to be in the ad saying "we're stronger than the storm."  That was just political they said.  Today, while the family was enjoying the beach, I saw the same gentleman walking the waterline late in the day that we have seen for years.  I told my wife I would be right back and hustled down to the water to question him about the city's recovery.  As I began a conversation I got the impression that he struggled quite a bit during the storm and maybe hasn't recovered quite yet.  He told me that he found a place to stay at the high school where they had opened it for the public.  He eventually tired of the abuse and rowdy noise in the gym and found another place to stay.  He said that there was no beach at all to walk on.  Pretty harrowing experiences for the residents of Ocean City and other shore points.  Judging by what I now see, they have made a fantastic comeback and definitely are "Stronger than the Storm."  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary  guy.  PS - The following photos show the reclaiming of the beach at Ocean City, NJ.