Focus: Remembering Superstorm Sandy’s Wrath — Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect

A reprise from 2017. Taking you back again after eight years … Remember?

It was the year that Halloween wasn’t, but was in a sense. People in the area woke up to a nightmare, if they slept at all the night before. It was 2012 and Superstorm Sandy had pummeled the Jersey Shore. It decimated Sea Bright and destroyed low lying parts of Rumson. Fair Haven was a bit war torn and powerless.

Beach cabanas landed like Dorothy’s house to the Witch of the East on West Park lawns. Boats were hoisted by surging water onto dock tops and back yards. Gunning Island, in the Shrewsbury River, was loaded with the moored belongings of Sea Bright and Rumson people. Trees were downed. Transformers exploded.

Sea Bright residents were homeless. The beach was in the road. Sea Bright Rising began with some good-hearted burger flipping by Woody’s owner Chris Wood and chef Onofrio Moscato. The U.S. Army National Guard was parked in the Sea Bright municipal lot. NJ Gov. Chris Christie made frequent visits to Sea Bright. There was no electricity. Cooking whatever they could with gas only, coffee and a limited menu was served up at Tavolo in Fair Haven. Neighbors met there for a little camaraderie and comfort.

There was a curfew. At nightfall, people scurried back into their homes, if there was anything left to go home to, like moles burrowing into cold, still night. Things were awfully dark. And Halloween was cancelled. There was no treat in Sandy’s trickery, just in the kindness of those who were good neighbors.

Take a look back … (and CLICK on one image in the gallery to enlarge and scroll!).

— Elaine Van Develde