In Ortley Beach, Memories Of Sandy Drive Effort To Help Ian Victims

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The reminders are there, standing out like missing teeth in a hockey player's mouth. Empty plots of land tucked in beside gleaming, modern three-story homes that stand well above the sand.

It's been 10 years since Superstorm Sandy pounded Ocean County and Ortley Beach. The Atlantic Ocean surged over the sand on Oct. 29, 2012, flooding homes, carrying some from their foundations into the middle of the street, washing others away completely.

For those who lived through Sandy and its aftermath, the photos and video of the devastation left behind in Fort Myers Beach, Florida, when Hurricane Ian slammed ashore a month ago, on Sept. 28, has ripped open scars.

It's also motivated the Sandy survivors to help: Donation drives are underway to provide assistance to Ian victims, including a flashlight collection Saturday evening at an Ortley Beach vigil to mark the 10th anniversary of Sandy.

"Rather than candles, we are asking participants to purchase a flashlight" and bring it to the ceremony, said Sharon Quilter-Colluci of the Ortley Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association, which is hosting the remembrance ceremony at 5 p.m. at St. Elisabeth's Chapel by the Sea at 7 3rd Street in Ortley Beach. The group will walk up to the boardwalk for the service. "The flashlight will be brought back to the church and packed into donation boxes once the boardwalk service is completed."

The rest of the donation effort is virtual, she said. The group has vetted organizations that are assisting Ian victims in Florida and are accepting monetary donations. There will be an opportunity at the church for people to donate directly by computer after the boardwalk ceremony, she said.

"We will not be collecting items for donation at this time because many people are just not ready yet and due to current logistics issues," she said.

Samaritan’s Purse was immensely helpful to Sandy victims, she said.

Other organizations they have vetted include: United Survivors Disaster Relief; Harry Chapin Food Bank; and Cajun Army Priority Needs Wish list. The Wildest provides of list of humane organizations assisting with pets affected by Hurricane Ian.

St. Elisabeth's Chapel also is hosting a concert from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Filmmaker Sandra Levine of Toms River said her documentary of the initial recovery from Superstorm Sandy will be shown on Ocean TV 20 (Channel 20 on Comcast/Xfinity) at 5 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. It also will be shown Saturday at 8 p.m. on her YouTube channel, Sandra Levine Productions.

After Sandy struck, it was a month before those with homes in Ortley Beach were allowed to see what, if anything, remained.

Paul Jeffrey, a board member of the Ortley Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association, had just become a permanent resident in Ortley in March 2012. He and his wife, Paulette, sold their North Jersey home in September 2012, finalizing their residency. They were out of state on a monthlong vacation celebrating their retirement when Sandy hit.

"The first time they let us in we met at the old Foodtown," Jeffrey said. "You got on a school bus with a suitcase on your lap ... you had three hours to pull whatever you could." They wore hangtags around their necks to show they were there legitimately, and not someone looting a home.

Jeffrey said they knew their home was still standing because he had been able to pick it out on video of the barrier island.

"Two frames of the video showed the house," he said. He also was able to find it on photos from a satellite flyover conducted by federal officials that mapped all the damage from Sandy in New Jersey and New York.

Jeffrey had elevated his home prior to Superstorm Sandy, which limited the damage. When electricity and natural gas service were restored to the area in February 2013, he and his wife were among the first few who moved back immediately.

Others weren't so lucky. That school bus ride through the torn-up landscape took them to empty lots, or piles of rubble. That happened to one of Jeffrey's neighbors.

"He could never come back," Jeffrey said.

For those who have returned, the return has been a hard-fought battle for many. Jeffrey has spent much of his time helping other Sandy survivors navigate the many challenges of dealing with their insurance companies, with FEMA and with the state and town governments.

It has been a nightmare wrapped in unending torture. Residents who received both FEMA grants and assistance in the form of Small Business Administration loans have been subjected to demands to repay money, under what federal officials have said is a duplication of benefits.

"It's money they spent on water heaters and new insulation," Jeffrey said, adding it was Congress that decided the Rehabilitation, Restoration, Elevation and Mitigation grants and SBA loans were duplicates.

The New Jersey Organizing Project, which refers to the demands as "clawbacks," said the repayment demands are in the thousands of dollars. The group is working to have them completely forgiven for the 500 or so families still facing the threat.

"This was money I needed to rebuild," writes Jody Stewart, a member of the New Jersey Organizing Project who was subjected to the clawbacks.

Jeffrey said the anniversary is a reminder, too, of the lessons that need to be learned yet.

New residents and summer visitors complain about the beach area, saying it's too small since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineering dune project in 2017 that created significant dunes and lengthened the beach's runup to them. At high tide, the space is limited.

"People don't understand that without these dunes, we'd have the ocean rushing down 6th Street again," Jeffrey said.