Back Bays See No Relief

From Cape May to the Raritan Bay to the Hudson Basin, flooding remains today, for the fourth straight day.

New Jersey's back bays and marshes remain a destructive mess. There are no cleanup efforts underway; the coastlines are still littered with debris and new debris that has come up from the bays and the ocean. 

There was another breach of the ocean meeting the bay at the Bay Head/Mantoloking border, closing Route 35. Further flooding to homes and businesses along the coastlines and Barrier islands have happened.

Where are the cleanup crews, where is FEMA on the ground, helping the newly effected and, better yet, how long will this round of insurance money take? The numbers are staggering. Homeowners have been beaten down on payouts.

Who has the money to repair what's already been repaired? And what hasn't? When will the state wake up and let locals clean there areas at a fair day's pay?

I know I've cleaned about four miles myself with no pay - no offers of pay have been turned down, left and right, from the big fundraising groups. I guess cleaning the bay isn't as popular as walking the beaches, picking up driftwood and colored glass.

When will the back bays get their due? This huge push is to fix the Seaside Heights boardwalk - and, if you notice, most pictures leave out that the place itself is an H-bomb disaster area.

Where are the protection plans for the mainland, the other side, the working side of the Jersey shore? That's the side that's being made to pay for the rich second homes on the barrier islands. They do this off the backs of hard-working Joes so some lonely person can sell seashells at the sea shore. 

The month of February saw no progress - it was like everyone went on vacation. We are no closer to answering how our governor or president is going to stop the senseless insurance bill they have let drop on us, with no vote, involving just a stroke of a pen. 

When was the last time the president visited the area? He hes been here once. And that for a photo-opp only. He hasn't delivered on one promise. Our own governor talked a good game but, guess what? Behind even Jackie Gleason's beloved persona was a very troubled man. 

I saw a report that there are some 675 families still in hotels. This number is way off. I can tell you just by the amount homes that are left empty here. 

There are no county crews out, no town crews, no state crews cleaning anything. My road is flooded still, and when the tide does go down, much of what was supposed to be there wiil be 75 percent gone.

There are bulkheads, there are docks  there are roofs, propane tanks all now covering the same marsh. I had to organize a volunteer clean up effort, saving the town, the landowners and the state hundreds of thousands of dollars. 

The barge that almost hit the Manahawkin bridge still lays in wreckage in the bay, just feet from the bridge and bulkheading. Boats still litter the marshes, and yet, not even temporary measures are being taken to protect the mainlands.

Where are the answers? Where are house raisers? Where are the bridge gap grants, the mitigation money? Where are they going?

Not here, my friends. Not here. 

This nor'easter is being ignored, like it didn't happen at all here. There should have been some disaster clarification by our governor. This area got hit again just as hard as Sandy, just not as far inland. But I assure you every marina and waterfront home on the bay side did.