At Jersey Shore, cleanup and criticism

STONE HARBOR, N.J. - While state officials surveyed the damage Monday left along the New Jersey Shore by a fierce weekend snowstorm, Gov. Christie was pelted for a second day with criticism of his assessment of the impact on the coast.

"I don't know what you expect me to do. You want me to go down there with a mop?" Christie replied to a question from a young woman in New Hampshire who said she was speaking on behalf of relatives in New Jersey. She asked why he was there campaigning while New Jersey was still cleaning up from the storm.

"I'm the governor. I'm not the chief engineer," Christie said. "I run a government of 60,000 people. They know exactly what they need to do, and I was on the phone with them six different times today."

He singled out the mayor of North Wildwood, saying he heard "one crazy mayor down in South Jersey" make "the incredible statement, it's worse than Sandy. Well, damn, man, you didn't get any flooding in Sandy."

Back in New Jersey, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin, and an entourage of other officials toured the oceanfronts of four towns: Ortley Beach and Holgate in Ocean County, and Stone Harbor and North Wildwood in Cape May County.

In Holgate, on the southern tip of Long Beach Island, they saw sand dunes shifted by 50 feet. In Stone Harbor, they saw 10-foot high cliffs carved into the dunes by the fierce winds and waves. In North Wildwood, they saw beach access paths washed away.

"That's why we are here today. This is part of the preparation and recovery. . . . This is part of the package deal," Guadagno said during the stop in Stone Harbor when questioned about the state's immediate response to the cleanup.

"We're not going away, we understand this was a devastating storm in terms of the water and the damage, and we're going to be getting you all the resources that are available as soon as possible," Guadagno said during the final stop, in North Wildwood.

Cape May County is believed to be the hardest hit by the weekend storm, which pounded the coastline with a record-setting flood tide in Cape May City on Saturday. The tide was one inch higher than during Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.

Though the tours and news conferences were held beachside, Martin acknowledged that much of the storm's damage happened along the back bay sections of Cape May County's coastal towns. In Ocean City, Sea Isle City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, and the Wildwoods, icy water as deep as three feet poured in, and inundated streets and flooded homes and businesses.

Martin said that while much damage had occurred to beaches recently fattened by beach replenishment projects - like those in Ocean City, North Wildwood, and Stone Harbor - the back bay sections and their aging bulkheads were also a major issue. He said there was no plan in place to deal with back bay flooding, but with input from local officials and the Army Corps of Engineers, that is something the state will begin to address soon.

Guadagno and Martin said the damage from flooding along the more northern beaches - in Monmouth and Ocean Counties - was significantly less than what they saw in Cape May County.

State Sen. Jeff Van Drew (D., Cape May) on Monday asked the governor to immediately seek a federal disaster declaration for the region, but Christie said federal rules would require more detailed assessments.

Guadagno said at the North Wildwood stop that the state would have to prove at least $12 million in losses before it could ask for the aid.

Christie on Saturday noted that he arrived back in New Jersey "before the first snowflake fell." On Monday, he said that his administration had "managed the storm extraordinarily well" and that there was "no residual damage, there is no residual flooding damage," along the Shore.

The mayors of several towns - including North Wildwood's Patrick Rosenello - said the damage during this storm for their towns was worse than Sandy.

"I was so offended by [Christie's] comments," said Maggie Day, owner of a children's shop called Nesting, on Third Avenue in Stone Harbor, who spent Monday cleaning up from three feet of floodwater that inundated her store.

"To come out and say to us, 'It's not that bad,' is offensive in a situation where you are looking at the destruction of people's homes or their businesses, that pay their bills and feed their families," said Day, knee-deep in scrub buckets and hoses, the scent of disinfectant in the air, as she tried to salvage merchandise and fixtures in her store.

On MSNBC on Monday morning, Christie said, "There will always be people who, when they suffer damage from a storm, will have complaints.

"The complaints have nothing to do with the conduct of what we've done, the complaints are about the storm," Christie said.

The governor insisted in a midday campaign appearance that any comparisons to Sandy were "outrageous."

"We lost 365,000 homes in 24 hours [during Sandy]. Cape May County was not hit by Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy came ashore in Atlantic County," Christie said. "So to say the flooding was worse now than in Hurricane Sandy - well, of course it was, because Cape May County wasn't hit by Hurricane Sandy. So it's a ridiculous comparison."

Long Beach Township Mayor Joseph H. Mancini on Monday said the storm moved the sand dunes back about 50 feet in the Long Beach Island town, almost to the edge of some homes. He said the township was bringing in 600 truckloads of sand.

The township had minimal property damage, but a large mess from sand and water, he said.

"We were extremely lucky," he said, adding, "It's an incredible amount of sand. And it's going to take us a lot of labor."

At stores in Beach Haven, also on Long Beach Island, owners and employees said it was the worst flooding they had seen since Sandy, but not nearly as bad.

"It isn't Sandy," said Keith Mozer, 57, whose wife, Debbie, owns a gift shop called Song of the Sea. The water rose to 48 inches inside the store during Sandy, compared with 9 this storm.

But of the storms that have followed Sandy, he said, "this is definitely the worst."

Debbie Mozer said, "We don't take anything for granted anymore. We've learned a lot of lessons."

jurgo@phillynews.com

609-652-8382 @JacquelineUrgo

www.philly.com/downashore