page_title: Long Beach Island
section_title: Hurricane Sandy
hierarchical_section_title: Long Beach Island / History / Hurricane Sandy
caption_attribution_description: Vehicles from the NJ National Guard's E Co., 250th Brigade Support Battalion move through the streets of Long Beach Island on their way to assist stranded residents. The soldiers, part of Task Force North, were worked side by side with the Long Beach Police Department to help rescue stranded homeowners and help re-locate them to shelters throughout Ocean County.
context_page_description: Long Beach Island is a barrier island and summer colony along the Atlantic Ocean coast of Ocean County, New Jersey in the United States. Aligned north to south, the northern portion has generally more expensive low-density housing, whereas the southern portion possesses higher-density housing and considerable commercial development. The primary industries include tourism, fishing, and real estate. The only access point to the island by land is a single causeway.
  The island is home to about 20,000 people on a year-round basis. The population is distributed among six separate municipalities, the largest of which is Long Beach Township. However, the island's population swells significantly during the summer months and reaches about 100,000 people, including part-time residents and tourists, who are often referred to as "shoobies". The island's close-knit communities are largely affluent and contain vacation homes for wealthy individuals who reside elsewhere, primarily New Jersey as well as New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
context_section_description: In late October 2012, portions of Long Beach Island were significantly damaged by Hurricane Sandy. Residents were evacuated and portions of the island were severely flooded, with the ocean meeting the bay in isolated spots. Streets were left covered with up to four feet of sand in some spots. Several homes along the ocean and bay front communities were damaged by the nine-foot storm surge and 18-foot seas that pounded the barrier island.
  The Manahawkin Bay Bridge remained closed to residents for a full 13 days following the storm, and locals were prohibited from returning to the island except for brief visits to retrieve belongings. Bulldozers and front-end loaders moved hundreds of tons of sand, along with power lines and boats, in an attempt to make the roadways passable. Long Beach Island was finally re-opened to residents and building owners on November 10, with the exception of the Holgate section of Long Beach Township, where infrastructure and road damage was still too dangerous. However, island officials warned that some areas were still without sewerage, water and electric service at that time.
  Damage was distributed unevenly throughout the island. Areas with a protective dune system had limited damage, while areas without dunes, or where dunes were breached, received significantly more damage. In those neighborhoods — in sections like Holgate, on the island’s southern tip — destruction was severe. The protective sand dunes, an ambitious project developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been a source of controversy in recent years, and have led to conflict between local officials arguing for the need of dunes, and property owners who felt that the dunes devalued their property. As such, the work is incomplete and there are significant breaks in the dune system. Other hard-hit areas included Loveladies and North Beach. Areas where the dune system was in place fared much better, such as Harvey Cedars, Ship Bottom, Surf City and Barnegat Light.
  Electricity was restored to 70% of the Island by November 4, 2012.  By November 20, 2012 natural gas service was restored to nearly the entire Island.
  By mid-November many businesses were re-opened on Long Beach Island with life resuming as normal for much of the Island by mid-December.
caption: New Jersey National Guard vehicles navigating floodwaters along Route 72 in Ship Bottom during Hurricane Sandy
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