Photos: Destruction on the New Jersey shore and amusement piers caused by Hurricane Sandy

Very sad photos. I felt kind of guilty when I saw the photos of the destroyed houses after my concern for the destroyed amusement park photos. I guess it could have been even worse; the lives lost were only 50ish throughout the entire storm. I expected a lot more when viewing the pictures and videos.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/hurricane-sandy-before-after-photos/

^Very cool use of satellite photography. One correction: the photo titled Ocean City, NJ is actually Ocean City, MD.

Death toll is almost 100 in the US now.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/02/14884300-sandy-death-tol...-says?lite

I see so many of those photos taken on what are essentially sandbars and can't imagine what people were thinking when building there in the first place.

^ What's even worse is they will rebuild on that same sandbar.

To be fair, the odds of this kind of storm aren't that high.

True. When was the last time something like this happening, not including last year which had very little damage?

1938, The Long Island Express

1938, The Long Island Express which was actually even worse if you can believe it. A long time ago but definitely in the memory of our older generation.

The reason you build on a sandbar is because it's about as ocean front as you can get, and you have the money. Nice properties along the shore are in the millions, and average ones are higher than you get most places. Who wouldn't want to develop that? And who wouldnt want to live there? It's a gamble, but in the end maybe no more than the threat of earthquakes on the west coast, tornados in the midwest, or hillside fires just about anywhere. Who would've thought you "shouldn't" build on Staten Island? This freak of nature got those poor people, too.
Our best friends just moved to Key West, a lifelong dream of theirs. I questioned their choice mainly due to what they were getting for the money, and the inherent weather risks, but they told me it's paradise to them and the many advantages make it all worthwhile.

LostKause said:

Very sad photos. I felt kind of guilty when I saw the photos of the destroyed houses after my concern for the destroyed amusement park photos. I guess it could have been even worse; the lives lost were only 50ish throughout the entire storm. I expected a lot more when viewing the pictures and videos.

I saw an article this morning that mentioned there are 16 deaths in Pennsylvania attributed to Sandy. There were only a few that happened during the storm itself from trees hitting houses or cars and a traffic accident or two. Most deaths happened after the storm from things like carbon monoxide poisoning (faulty use of a generator), and people who had heart attacks or accidents while clearing debris.

Jeff said:

To be fair, the odds of this kind of storm aren't that high.

True, but they are going up every year...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2taViFH_6_Y

Yes, and if you double 1 in 100 you get 2 in 100. Still not high odds.

Toll in lives aside, one way of calculating the "damage" of storms is in terms of monitary loss. One of the reason why we are seeing an increase in this type of damage is 1) inflation and 2) more and more of the land along the shore line is being developed.

Just a comment about Key West. I spent a week there on vacation, and out of all the places I have been to where I would want to live, well, Key West is not one of them. It's a tropical version of Muskegon, MI. Unless you have lots of money, and want to spend every waking moment in a coctail lounge, there is nothing to do there. It's just a big dirty tourist trap, with cuban refugees about everywhere you look. And, because most everything comes in via bridge or plane, it's not cheap.We drove to Key West from Miami, and those bridges are scary enough on a sunny day! I couldn't imagine what it would be like driving on them during a major storm. But, I heard that the bridges were all closed during hurricane Hugo. If they were to be badly damaged, people would be stuck in Key West for a long time until they were fixed. I thought Key West would be beautiful like Hawaii, but, it's just a big flat tropical dump.

It used to be lovely, back in the stone age before the 1980's.

Timber-Rider said:
Unless you have lots of money, and want to spend every waking moment in a coctail lounge, there is nothing to do there.

You say that like it's a bad thing...

It's odd how the strangest things can be relatable. I was looking at news this morning and saw this photo from Keansburg, of a totally trashed Jurassic Park pinball machine. Having owned that machine, and knowing how much of a tank it is, it gives me perspective about just how powerful the storm was. Seeing houses washed away doesn't click, but a destroyed pinball machine does.

Those photos are amazing. The Pharaoh's Fury looks like a forgotten carnival ride left behind in the desert somewhere.
Pics of the Seaside Heights ride in the water seems to be everywhere, it will probably become the definitive/iconic image depicting the destruction of the Jersey shore. That poor ride never had so much attention...