There are a lot of those communities in Rhode Island (only state I can speak about with any familiarity).
Island Park in Portsmouth, parts of Warren and Barrington, and nearby Swansea Mass. Little houses, no winterization . . just places to send the family away from the city in the summer. Dads would show up on weekends.
Then, in the 1970s and '80s, the value of waterfront property began to rocket upward, and people were buying these places and turning them into year-round homes. Nobody remembered '38 or ?'52? so no rules and regs about elevation. These big flooding events are pretty rare in the Northeast.
Many of the houses you sea in those pix coming out of New Jersey look as though they are of the same vintage/type as those in Island Park, etc. Old summer communities.
Whatever the reason they are flooded now, very sad for the residents. The big question is . . . should they rebuild in the same place?