Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy: After ‘incalculable’ loss, recovery begins
By: Dan Goldberg and Brent Johnson/The Star-Ledger
A parking lot filled with taxi cabs is submerged on the north end of Hoboken due to Hurricane Sandy. (Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger)
More than 24 hours after Hurricane Sandy pummeled New Jersey, crews worked through the night to assess the damage, and formulate a plan to rebuild in months what Sandy destroyed in moments. This morning, Gov. Chris Christie said, New Jersey enters a new phase. Today is when the state must transition from remorse to recovery, he said. And there is plenty of work to be done.
The devastation was so widespread and so severe many residents cannot find the words to describe what they have seen. Christie called the losses “almost incalculable.”
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Homes gone, landmarks crumbled and loved ones lost. At least seven people in New Jersey have died because of the storm. The governor plans to tour the shore today with President Obama and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez in the afternoon — after a 9 a.m. cabinet meeting and a tour of Sayreville. Early Tuesday morning on MSNBC, Christie said the president’s handling of the disaster “has been great.” When asked about the elections at a press conference later in the day, he said: “This administration at the moment could give a damn less about the Election Day. … I’ve got much bigger fish to fry.”
“(Tuesday) was a bit of a day of sorrow for a lot of people,” Christie said. “And we need to feel that. It’s appropriate to feel that. We need to feel it and take it in. There’s nothing wrong with that. But as long as sorrow does not displace resilience, then we’ll be just fine.” Moonachie, which had four feet of river water running through town, is slowly drying out, police said.
“There are no more rescue efforts, and the water has receded quite a bit,” said borough police officer Jeff Napolitano.
The devastation was so widespread and so severe many residents cannot find the words to describe what they have seen.
Waters are also beginning to recede in Hoboken, though the city is still a mess. Late Tuesday night, the National Guard rolled in, using high-wheeled vehicles to bring supplies to the beleaguered city and help thousands of residents who found themselves trapped by flood waters.
Forecasters predict the state will have some time to clean up. Light sprinkles are expected today but nowhere near enough rain for there to be more flooding, said Walter Drag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
EnlargeStar-Ledger Staff Residents evacuate Seaside Heights on an rescue vehicle the day after Hurricane Sandy landed. Tuesday, October 30, 2012. (David Gard/The Star-Ledger) Top photos 1: Hurricane Sandy batters N.J. gallery (15 photos)
“Sandy has moved on,” he said. “It’s a matter of clean up now.”
Utility crews spent most of Tuesday night riding around New Jersey, assessing damage and restoring service where possible. Though progress was made, more than half the state will again wake up without power. Estimates vary on when it will return, but Christie said it could take more than a week for service to be fully restored.
“To the people of New Jersey, hang in there,” the governor said on Tuesday.
As of 3:30 a.m. today, JCP&L was able to restore power to about 13,000 customers during the night, but there are still 958,000 to go.
“Today, the goal is still to be assessing damage,” said Jennifer Young, a spokeswoman for the power company. “Where we can, we will also make repairs. This is the worst storm damage we’ve seen in our company’s history. It is far worse than what we saw during Irene and the snowstorm last October. With the damage we are seeing it is really going to take a while to get all customers back online.”
PSE&G, which had a peak of 1.4 million outages, reported at 5 a.m. that about 900,000 customers without power. Atlantic City Electric still has 121,000, down from a peak 152,000.
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