The damage was bad enough, but it was the realization of the new normal water levels that are having this new devastation. I know your area pretty well, especially Mantoloking, as I had good friends there. I also spent a lot of time on Barnegat Bay(Normandy Beach), with the high tide, just a foot or two below my bed.

And plus, if your area is anything like mine, Jon, the coastline is becoming more second home every day. Simple economics for our area, I fear. The second homer can set a new baseline for construction standards that make financial sense, for them. The average Joe living next door, can't.

It's an impossible situation. You're lucky to be high enough above the water to be a surviver for the immediate future. But wow, there are just too many people on that area of the coast and up into NYC, that simply are not high enough above the storm waters.