Jersey Shore devastation photos

[thecrow]

How bad did it get? Most of my family on the Jersey Shore are still without power..
Link is to the Asbury Park Press and has photos of the region. New ones coming out as time progresses.
http://app.com

[Le Taz Hot]

1. Wow.

Just wow. I can't even wrap my head around that.

[thecrow]

3. I know...

My first job was across the boardwalk from the roller coaster that's now in the sea. I don't even know if the boardwalk is still there.

[liberal N proud]

2. Incredible destruction

There are still power outages as far west as Ohio, this thing was far reaching and the Jersey Shore took the full force hit.

The last couple of days have just been so surreal, watching the scenes on TV and locally as well.

[thecrow]

4. My son has been in Florida for six years

and hasn't seen a hurricane yet (thank God), but we have had TWO in the last 14 months up here.
I admit at first I thought it was a lot of weather channel hype, then I really started paying attention.
I know a lot of people thought oh it's only a Cat 1, but I'm glad that so many people took it seriously when they ordered evacuations. It could have been much worse if they had not heeded the order.

[liberal N proud]

5. Our daughter moved to Clearwater 6 years ago - same thing

But who would ever think you would experience the storm like this in Ohio?

Can't even imagine what it was like on the coast.

[thecrow]

6. I know, right?

Now I tell him "you never know what you will get with a hurricane" and to evacuate if he's told to do so. I also point out that were he without power in Florida how unbelievable hot and miserable he would be.

[OldDem2012]

7. Too much emphasis was placed by the media on the wind speed of the storm instead of....

....the actual central pressure and the speed of the storm over the water.

Sandy had a central pressure of 945-946 at landfall which equates to a Category Three hurricane. Additionally, the storm's speed over the water was 28 mph at landfall, increasing the wind speed on the northern side of the eye from 90 mph to roughly 118 mph, also equivalent to a Category Three storm.

The constant harping by the media on the storm as "only a Category One hurricane" may have influenced a large number of people along the coast to ride out the storm. The death toll is currently at 82 and I fear they will find many more among the rubble along the Jersey and New York coastlines.

[BlueStreak]

8. This is probably not a popular position, but

Building right at the water's edge is always going to be a high-risk deal. When the 2004 tsunami killed 170,000 people, the vast majority lived within several hundred yards of the water.

When the Mississippi floods, the waters flood the towns that are located just a few feet above the normal river level.

The taxpayers are going to be asked to pay for much of this damage -- probably at least $20,000,000,000. We should insist that any new building or restoration not be right on the water's edge.

It obviously is not an option to move Manhattan to a safer place, so we will have to invest in flood gates that will protect the inner harbor and Manhattan.

There are certainly many personal tragedies from this storm -- and much of that hit areas that were not right at the water's edge. But we know the beachfront properties are very high risk, and we ought to take this opportunity to stop doing that.