We were down on the Jersey Shore today, just off Barnegat Bay to help a friend whose home had been hit by Sandy. On his street the damage ranged from wet floors and wires in the crawlspace [his home] to a totally burned down house and all levels of damage in between. His home has a tall foundation so it was one of the least damaged places in the area. Others were flooded several feet high.

The public works guys were there dumpstering trashed furniture and parts of houses that were irreparable. As we watched they took down part of the burned house to make the site less hazardous.

Our friend had a shed in the side yard which was damaged so we spent the day tearing it down and carrying it out to the curb. Removed a lot of timber that had floated in on the storm surge. A neighbor is staying in his house as they have nowhere else to stay. Cooking is by bottled gas and barbecue. Water seems to be OK. Electricity needs to be checked out fully before it can be used again.