More than six months after Superstorm Sandy caused unprecedented damage to the Jersey Shore region, the beaches will be open for Memorial Day Weekend and the summer. While certain access points and facilities might be closed as municipalities continue to work on restoration, for the most part, the beaches will be operational. The only beach that remains off limits to the public is Mantoloking. The borough was home to a breach that split Ocean County's northern barrier island in half and was one of the hardest hit communities in New Jersey during the storm. So as you prepare to stick your toes…

Environmental stewardship and conservation group Clean Ocean Action has hosted Spring Beach Sweeps for nearly three decades, dispatching waves of volunteers on an April day each year to dozens of coastal sites throughout New Jersey to do a bit of clean up in preparation of the summer season. This spring's cleanup took on some extra meaning. With the state still recovering following Hurricane Sandy, volunteers came out to not only collect debris, but to participate in a comprehensive study that will analyze both the quantity of debris pulled from waterways and its impact on the marine …

There are two weeks left for survivors of Superstorm Sandy who suffered damage to their homes to register with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The deadline is midnight, May 1, according to FEMA officials. This is also the deadline for residents to return applications to the Small Business Administration (SBA) for low-interest disaster loans. Residents can register for FEMA assistance online at DisasterAssistance.gov, or via smart phone or tablet at m.fema.gov. They also can call 800-621-3362 or TTY 800-462-7585, and those who use 711-Relay or Video Relay Services can call 800-…

Residents impacted by Superstorm Sandy now have until May 1 to register for individual disaster assistance through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), according to a prepared statement from the governor's office.  The deadline extension also applies for homeowner, renter, and business registration with the Small Business Administration (SBA) for Disaster Loan Assistance. Businesses applying for SBA Economic Injury loans still have until July 31 to apply. The loans are for businesses that did not suffer any physical damage, but lost revenue in Sandy's aftermath. State and federal …

The impetus behind releasing its advisory flood maps soon after Hurricane Sandy was simply to aid in the state's disaster recovery, a Federal Emergency Management Agency risk analyst said Friday, noting that they still remain subject to change prior to their official adoption into the National Flood Insurance Program. Discussion about the NFIP as well as the Advisory Base Flood Elevation maps was made during a FEMA conference call late Friday morning and seemed to conflict with Gov. Chris Christie's hurried effort to see the maps adopted as New Jersey's new standard.  Doug Bellomo, director …

An action plan that outlines how New Jersey will spend $1.8 billion in Hurricane Sandy relief aid was submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for review Thursday. The aid will be used for Community Development Block Grants, which are designed to help homeowners, renters, business owners and communities still rebuilding following the late October storm. According to a release, the Action Plan focuses primarily on the nine counties most affected by the storm, including Monmouth, Ocean, Cape May, and Atlantic Counties. The grant funding is expected to assist …

The Christie administration has taken another step toward supporting new statewide elevation standards based on Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps. On Monday, the administration filed with the Office of Administrative Law an adoption package supporting the standards. The action comes nearly a week after Christie predicted FEMA will scale back tough new flood maps it issued last December.   Those maps place a large amount of properties in flood zones, and require many structures to be elevated if their owners don't want to see flood insurance rates spike. The initial FEMA flood …

Gov. Chris Christie predicted the Federal Emergency Management Agency will scale back tough new flood maps it issued last December, according to news reports. Those maps place many more properties in flood zones, requiring many of them to be elevated if their owners don't want to see flood insurance rates soar, according to reports. The initial FEMA flood maps, which could create thousands more in insurance premiums and have residents raising their houses feet off the ground, are "too aggressive," said Gov. Christie at Thursday's town hall meeting. He was addressing a packed crowd of …

Although Hurricane Sandy partially shuttered Leonardo State Marina, Island Beach State Park and other state recreation facilities, many sites have opened or partially reopened after weeks of clean-up. So how do you know what's reopened? The state has an ongoing list you can check before planning a hike, camping trip or other jaunt in a state park. The New Jersey Division of Parks maintains the list, itemizing each of the parks in its roster of facilities, providing a status update on how Hurricane Sandy impacted areas have fared. What's open and what's still closed? Check out this list before…

Gov. Chris Christie is coming to Manasquan March 21, to hold another town hall meeting focusing on the governor's agenda and recovery after Hurricane Sandy. The event will be held in the gymnasium of Manasquan High School, 167 Broad Street, Manasquan, NJ 08736. Doors will open at 3:15 p.m. and the event is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. The Manasquan High School gymnasium will host residents from around the state, and the governor's office has asked attendees to first register. Seating is on a first come, first serve basis and open to the public. Please RSVP by clicking here. With more than 100…

It's spring break for many college students. It's time to enjoy some time off from the grind of studying. Hang out with a group of friends, head down to the shore, hit the beaches early and stay out all day. And fill up trash bags with debris.  As colleges clear out this time of year some students are eschewing typical spring break activities for volunteerism, heading to coastal communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy to lend a hand. Beach cleanups, house demolition, reconstruction, and even something as simple, and necessary, as helping residents paint their homes are jobs being handled by…

In the self-described blue-collar borough of Union Beach, the frustrated pronouncement, “I’m still waiting for my money,” punctuates so many conversations that it's almost a refrain among homeowners who -- four months after Sandy -- have yet to receive the insurance checks that will help them cover critical home repairs or elevations or both. Yet despite the prolonged uncertainty and displacement, they are the lucky ones. Dozens of their neighbors in the Monmouth County town -- where half the population qualifies for low-income federal assistance -- have no insurance at all. Union Beach is …

Inspiration came in the way of a message delivered by a 9-year-old girl from a small town in Mississippi. New Jersey's coastal communities remained devastated following Hurricane Sandy. Even then, more than a month after the storm hit, rebuilding seemed like an impossible task. In December, a gunman opened fire in a school in Newtown, Conn. killing 26 people, 20 of them children. Demoralized. That’s how Bill Lavin, president of the New Jersey Firefighter’s Mutual Benevolent Association, said he felt. It’s how many in the nation felt. Karli Coyne, from Waveland, Miss., a town destroyed by …

Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-6) feels it is urgent to get the Hurricane Sandy-ravaged Sandy Hook open by the start of the summer season. He had sent a letter to National Park Service (NPS) Director Jon Jarvis urging that the agency provide adequate resources to Sandy Hook as it recovers and rebuilds from the devastating impact of Superstorm Sandy.   Sandy Hook’s infrastructure suffered critical damage from the storm, and Pallone requested that the park receive the Park Service’s full support to rebuild in time for the summer season. Sandy Hook draws more than two million visitors each …

New Jersey’s recovery following Hurricane Sandy will come, officials and legislators at Tuesday’s budget introduction at the Statehouse in Trenton said, just don’t expect the state to pay for it. In Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed $32.9 billion budget, only about $40 million has been set aside for Sandy-related recovery, all of it coming in the form of supplemental aid. Its intended use will only be as a stopgap during the process of the state’s securing aid for various recovery efforts. The negligible sum will have little impact on the state’s budget, according to New Jersey Treasurer Andrew …

Sometimes, a hot meal can mean everything. No one knows this better than the volunteers of Everybody's Kitchen, a kitchen on wheels that travels around the country providing hot meals to those who need it most. Recently, the loosely-organized group has been providing meals to Hurricane Sandy victims. According to volunteer Anne Mackell, the bus made stops in Sandy-ravaged towns soon after the storm hit and has come back again three months later to address a persistent need.  The completely volunteer-sustained Everybody's Kitchen, developed in the early 1990's, has spend the last two decades …

Towns all along New Jersey's coast were devastated by Hurricane Sandy. Boardwalks were pulled back into the sea by surging waves, homes were knocked off of their foundations and residents left homeless. Despite the disaster, there's still hope. In Union Beach Saturday, and estimated crowd of about 1,000 people walked through the Sandy-ravaged town to show their support for recovery and each other. With little notice about the event other than a posting online, word of mouth spread throughout the week, resulting in a large and somewhat unexpected turnout. Many of those walking count themselves…

  A fundraiser for two schools and Shore 2 Recover will be held from 5 p.m. to midnight March 2 at Martell's on the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk. The admission fee of $25, for non-stop live music and complimentary dinner buffet, will be donated as follows: $20 to Hugh J. Boyd Elementary School in Seaside Heights and Memorial School in Union Beach and $5 to Shore2Recover’s rebuild program. Shore 2 Recover was founded by Toni Pecunia, a resident of Point Pleasant whose home was partially-flooded by the storm, according to the organization's website. The organization has donated funds to …

When David Scott Ruddy was arrested in Woodbridge for allegedly flimflamming Hurricane Sandy victims out of $50,000 in FEMA funds, there was one person who not only knew who he was, but had been calling and warning officials about him for months. That was Kathleen Marchitto, who met Ruddy first at a shelter put up at an Old Bridge school, and then later when she and other hurricane victims were moved to the Red Cross shelter set up at Livingston College of Rutgers University in Piscataway. Marchitto, whose South River apartment was flooded during the October hurricane, was at the Livingston …

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing free advice on how to repair or rebuild your Hurricane Sandy-damaged home at several home improvement stores throughout the area. With an eye on rebuilding to mitigate future disaster damage, FEMA experts will be on hand to offer building techniques that can help protect homes, businesses and other properties.  Among the topics advice is being offered on are: •             Ridding a home of mold and mildew. •             Understanding flood- and wind-resistant building methods. •             Knowing the benefits of flood insurance…