Photos document SCA’s progress on the Jersey Shore
The work is not complete, it is not even close.
However, recovery efforts on Sandy Hook have progressed enough for people to flock to the historic 6-mile-long peninsula this summer as they have for generations.
And enough work has been completed to hide much of the visible destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy and give hope to the tens of thousands of people who visit the park each weekend that Sandy Hook, as well as the Jersey Shore as a whole, will soon be back to “normal” again.
“I have been here many times before, but I was nervous to see if it would still be here after the storm because of everything we heard about it,” Fanwood resident Jean Stillwell said. “And it is still here thank goodness, because it is a beautiful place.”
Monroe resident Heather Renaud and her husband, Christopher, typically visit Sandy Hook in the fall and actually rode bikes there last October, right before Hurricane Sandy hit.
On Monday, Renaud visited Sandy Hook for the first time since it was devastated by the storm.
“I was expecting to see a little more evidence of the storm, but I don’t see much of that. The beach looks a lot like it did last summer,” said Renaud, whose family’s vacation home on Long Beach Island is still in the process of being rebuilt after Hurricane Sandy destroyed it.
Photos: Sandy Hook beachgoers praise park’s post-Sandy progress