Ten years ago Saturday, Superstorm Sandy slammed into the Jersey Shore, barreling through the state and up the East Coast. New Jersey was hit by punishing 80-mile-per-hour winds, a record-breaking storm surge and a high tide that pushed 14-foot waves up and over the coastline.
The storm claimed 38 lives, swept homes off their foundations, crippled public transit, washed away bridges, and tossed cars and boats about. Entire neighborhoods were inundated in sand. In all, the deadliest storm in state history caused more than $30 billion dollars in damage.
There are still reminders of Sandy everywhere, as the work to make the state more resilient against similar storms continues with the help of billions in federal disaster relief aid.
Gov. Phil Murphy Friday marked the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy with state, federal and local leaders in Monmouth County. They toured the Port Monmouth Flood Protection project, a storm-damage reduction project that uses a combination of levees, floodwalls, dunes and other mitigation tactics along the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook Bay near Middletown Township. It was a plan 20 years in the making before Superstorm Sandy made it more urgent.
Murphy highlighted the ways in which New Jersey has been forever changed by devastating storm. “Throughout the past ten years we’ve come along way in healing the scars of Sandy, yet we remain mindful that at least we know of 151 New Jersey families have yet to complete the jobs of rebuilding and returning to their homes ten years later,” said Murphy.
