Our home is in Northern NJ, just outside of Morristown. The damage here was significant in terms of downed trees, power outages, etc. We were without electricity for nearly 13 days and without phone, internet and cable for 15. That said, we were very lucky. We also own an investment property (which have been renting in recent years) "down the shore" (a Jersey syntax) on one of the barrier islands. The island has been under martial law and today was the first day anyone was admitted to our particular street. We have were not able to travel there today, but a neighbor did check on our place and said the damage appeared to be mostly confined to our basement. We have been watching videos posted by police on Facebook and YouTube of the area. The rest of the island is filled with large swaths of seemingly random patterns of destruction. Here a block of totally flattened homes, followed by a block with houses of their foundations, followed by another with only modest damage. The only place I've ever visited in person that had this kind of damage was the Biloxi/New Orleans area. It is harrowing to see. My kids grew up spending summers at the shore. It remains to be seen how much of it can or should be rebuilt. Unfortunately, the island has been gradually shifting from almost entirely summer dwellers to a larger number of year-round folks, meaning that there are a large number of newly homeless people, many of them in their senior years. I've read that only 40% of home eligible for federal flood insurance (through FEMA) actually carry the insurance. We do. It's expensive (and probably rightly so).
I will post some pictures of the shore after we finally make the trip. (You need to bused in and escorted by National Guard troops. Four hour maximum visit time.)
For now, here are some pictures from the Morristown, NJ area...
A favorite maple in my yard...
A less fortunate pine that narrowly missed taking out the front of our house. Approximately 45-feet long...
Neighbor's driveway...
