Upended boats are piled together at a marina along the central New Jersey shore.(Photo: By Mike Groll, AP)
BRIGANTINE, N.J. -- After nearly 80 years, Superstorm Sandy may have finally brought last call to the Rod & Reel.
A
working man's tavern in this quiet island just north of Atlantic City,
The Rod opened soon after the repeal of Prohibition - the original
liquor license dates to 1936. It has survived countless hurricanes as
well as gentrification and a down economy.
HOW TO DONATE TO OPERATION SANDY RELIEF
But Sandy's flooding,
which brought 2 feet of water into the old brick building early Tuesday,
may have been too much for old place, whose ancient wiring and
construction will almost certainly keep it shuttered until the
building's owner rebuilds. He may have to raze the structure to save it.
"It
looks like there's no amount of cleaning and minor repairs that's going
to get anything done," said Tom Devine, 50, whose home next door also
flooded, as did many in this bedroom community. "It's suffered a few
storms, but this may be the one that's the end."
Up
and down New Jersey's storied shore, the scene of summer fun for
generations of Easterners is now a tangle of wet, splintered wood,
seawater, sand and debris. It's a region that claims rocker Bruce
Springsteen as a native son - and of more recent fame, "Snooki" and the
cast of MTV's Jersey Shore.
New Jersey's blunt-speaking
Republican Gov. Chris Christie says as much as he loves it, the iconic
Jersey Shore of his own childhood may be a thing of the past. Christie
looked over the damage with President Obama on Wednesday, a day after he
had looked without success for a Seaside Heights sandwich-and-lemonade
stand he has known for decades.
"Gone," he concluded, noting his own disappointment will be widely shared by residents and regulars.
"There's
a certain pride the citizens here have about not only each other, but
about these places in our state," Christie said. "They love the idea of
walking on the boardwalk in Wildwood or Ocean City or Seaside Heights or
Point Pleasant with their children, the way their parents walked with
them."
Although Christie and many other New Jersey veterans spoke
of rebuilding, the decision will not be a simple one for many people who
have seen their nest eggs or livelihoods swept away. Some said they
will be back; others weren't sure.
Farther north of Atlantic City
at Seaside Heights, where recovery workers in rubber boots checked
storm-battered houses for residents, bodies and structural damage, those
calculations were being made, building by building.
USA Today