After wading waist-deep into churning water on Ocean Avenue during the storm on Monday, photographer Peter Lindner returned to Sea Bright on Saturday, along with redbankgreen‘s John T. Ward, to document the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Here are 150 of Lindner’s shots. Some of Ward’s pix on are redbankgreen‘s Facebook page.
Lindner and Ward were permitted into town by local officials, who were in their second day of ferrying Sea Bright residents into town, by dumptruck, to give them just a few minutes to collect pets, medicines, clothing and other personal items from their homes.
What they all saw was widespread devastation: obliterated beach clubs, gutted stores, debris-filled houses. But they also saw a remarkable cleanup effort that had already removed hundreds of tons of sand from the streets and lawns of homes.
Mayor Dina Long said building inspectors had given a cursory exterior inspection for safety 95 percent of the town’s structures, with each scored on a 1 to 5 basis. Those marked 5 are considered unsafe, and residents of those structures were not permitted to enter them, prompting some tears.
Town officials plan to hold their second townwide meeting in three days today, Sunday, at 2 p.m. at Shore Regional High in West Long Branch. Long tells redbankgreen, “We hope to have to have some good news” about when residents might begin returning to their homes and businesses.
