Storm Ravaged New Jersey Shore Starts to Rebuild

New Jersey is Ground Zero of superstorm Sandy, where the low-lying coastline is still in a critical state as residents slowly come to terms with the devastation.

Published

7 months ago

Categories

US

Topics

United States

People

Barack Obama

Places

United States of America, New Jersey

Transcript

SCRIPT: UPSOUND Mike (English): "That's the boardwalk right there, goes all the way to Jenkinson's..." Mike grew up on the Jersey shore. Its world-famous boardwalk was his turf. But there's little left of his favorite spot -- now, just ruins. Hurricane Sandy ripped up the landmark and tossed pieces of it into yards, like scrap. Seventy-year-old Marilyn has seen storms come and go. She refused to evacute in order to get a jump on the clean-up. SOUNDBITE 1 Marilyn Skillender (woman), retiree (English, 5 sec): "What do you want to do? you want to live at the beach? Pay the price, I guess!" UPSOUND Joanne (English, sec): "Talk about luck, I mean, that's pure luck." But most say this storm was unlike any other. This tree missed Joanne's living room by mere centimeters. Joanne agreed to evacuate -- but then snuck back home, defying official orders, to take stock of the damage. SOUNDBITE 2 Joanne Tunbridge (woman), retiree (English, 8 sec) : "I am glad I did because I need to open every window in there because it's wet on the floor. That's never happened. That's been here since the 50's, never!" Point Pleasant Beach is nothing more than a sliver of sand with houses on it -- perilously close to ocean levels in normal times, a catastrophe in a storm like Sandy. Its beach has now invaded the streets -- and will have to be trucked out. Dave is also facing a mammoth clean-up job -- after the ground floor of his house was overrun by saltwater. He's doing what he can -- but is also looking for help from the government, from its relief agency FEMA...and from the president. SOUNDBITE 3 Dave Bopp (man), retiree (English, 10 sec): ³I have a lot of faith in FEMA, I think they'll do OK. That was the president flying overhead, he is my man. [laughter] Vote for Obama!" Obama flew over to inspect the damage and met survivors like these. But even with help from the top, New Jersey and its millions of residents may have weeks to go before life returns to normal. ----------- SHOTLIST: POINT PLEASANT BEACH, NEW JERSEY, OCTOBER 31, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV NATSOUND Mike pointing to the boardwalk - VAR of the destroyed boardwalk - VAR of Marilyn sweeping debris SOUNDBITE 1 Marilyn Skillender NATSOUND Joanne Tunbridge - pan to her house with a fallen tree right in front of it NATSOUND Joanne Tunbridge - shot following Joanne as she walks - shot of the trash in front of Joanne's house SOUNDBITE 2 Joanne Tunbridge - shot of the sand on the street with houses in the background - pan of the street covered in sand - shot of a backhoe as it removes the sand - Dave Bopp pointing to the level the water reached because of the storm - VAR inside Dave's house SOUNDBITE 3 Dave Bopp BRIGANTINE, NEW JERSEY, OCTOBER 31, 2012, SOURCE: US POOL **NO RESALE for non-editorial purposes** - Barack Obama and Chris Christie walking around Brigantine - Barack Obama hugging a woman in tears