These two aerial photographs show a portion of the New Jersey coastal town of Mantoloking, just north of where Hurricane Sandy made landfall on October 29, 2012. They were taken by NOAA’s Remote Sensing Division – top photograph was taken on March 18, 2007, the bottom on October 31, 2012.
The Mantoloking Bridge cost roughly $25 million when it was opened in 2005 to replace a bridge built in 1938. After Sandy passed through on October 29, 2012, the bridge was covered in water, sand, and debris from houses; county officials closed it because they considered it unstable.
On the barrier island, entire blocks of houses along Route 35 (also called Ocean Boulevard) were damaged or completely washed away by the storm surge and wind. Fires raged in the town from natural gas lines that had ruptured and ignited. A new inlet was cut across the island, connected the Atlantic Ocean and the Jones Tide Pond.