Demolitions to start in ravaged N.J. town

MANTOLOKING, N.J. - Work crews are preparing to demolish storm-damaged homes in the Jersey Shore town hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy.

Minor debris removal has already started in Mantoloking, and the first of 50 storm-wrecked houses should be demolished Wednesday, a day later than originally anticipated.

The lack of an air-quality monitoring team prevented the teardown of a house Tuesday. It sits near the Mantoloking Bridge, where the surge from the Oct. 29 storm cut a new channel from the ocean to the Barnegat Bay, necessitating a massive emergency-repair project to fill it in.

All of Mantoloking's 521 homes were damaged or destroyed.

The Ocean County borough will be one of the Jersey Shore spots visited next week by Britain's Prince Harry.