Governor Christie, Jersey Shore Officials Have Different Views On Winter Storm Damage
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The massive storm that dumped several feet of snow across the region is gone, but has left plenty of damage at the Jersey Shore. Governor Christie has one outlook on the extent of the damage, but shore towns are seeing things differently.
The comparisons are to Hurricane Sandy. Some leaders of shore towns say this winter storm did more harm. Governor Christie sees it another way.
"What you see here and this is nothing like Hurricane Sandy," Christie told Eyewitness News. "I think it's really been nothing more than a normal nor'easter in terms of the flooding. We only had to shelter 113 people total statewide."
But Patrick Rosonello, Mayor of North Wildwood, begs to differ.
"The damage, again localized from what we're seeing so far," he said, "is in excess of what we saw during Hurricane Sandy."
Rosonello said he doesn't have the statewide perspective that the governor has, but he said flooding in North Wildwood was about a foot more than Sandy. He said a big difference was there were mandatory evacuations for Sandy but not for this storm, so crews had to help hundreds of people evacuate their flooded and powerless homes.
Much of the flooding was on roads and neighborhoods in Atlantic and Cape May Counties, but officials said the waters were starting to recede by late Sunday morning.
