Offers illustrations and maps to provide a historical look at the hurricanes and other natural storms which have caused havoc on the Jersey coast since colonial times

*Winner of four national awards for excellence in book publishing.*Superstorm Sandy was an epic storm, the greatest natural disaster in the Jersey Shore's recorded history. Throughout Southern Ocean County it disrupted lives and rearranged neighborhoods. It was a defining moment and, for many, a hard lesson about complacency, natural forces, and building castles on shifting sand.In this full-color book, readers experience the superstorm from its inception through the devastating impact of its tidal surge on the Long Beach Island area. And, like its survivors, you come away shaken but determined, with a new appreciation for the power of nature and the fragility of things we hold dear.This is the first book with a comprehensive narrative story of the storm -- not just photographs and captions. And although it focuses on the Long Beach Island community, that narrative also represents much of the experience of the entire Jersey Shore. Weather experts explore the incredible meteorology of Hurricane Sandy and its metamorphosis into a hybrid superstorm. Residents and first responders share their personal stories -- their fears, their bravery, their fortitude, and, ultimately, their acceptance.Because so few people actually remained on the front lines, these first-hand stories from inside the storm are an extraordinary look at landfall and human response. Each of us was affected by the tribulations our battered shore endured after landfall. And, in the end, the triumph of our spirit defines us all -- how we picked ourselves up, got to work on recovery, and generously helped others by lending a hand, donating, or offering a shoulder to cry on. The stories in Surviving Sandy help guide us to rebuild stronger -- and smarter.This softcover edition includes 256 color photographs from the height of the storm, the aftermath and the recovery; it includes a Foreword and Introduction from Great Storms of the Jersey Shore authors Margaret Thomas Buchholz and Larry Savadove.Winner of four national awards -- including a Gold Medal (Nature & Environment), and three Silver Medals (Political/Current Events; Cover Design; and Regional) -- in the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards.

This new and expanded edition of a "history of wild weather on the Jersey Shore...with harrowing eyewitness accounts" (Booklist) now includes Superstorm Sandy and even more weather.Illustrated with nearly 300 photographs, engravings and graphics, this large-format book is filled with vivid personal accounts from storm survivors. Covering the earliest recorded storms through the devastating March '62 northeaster, the 1944 hurricane, December 1992's extreme northeaster and Superstorm Sandy, this "bible of Jersey Shore storms" also touches upon the mythic nature of great storms and looks at the environmental implications of coastal living. With added color photographs, more storms, and updated information, record tides and storm tracks, this new edition includes an Afterword about climate change, sea level rise, and the future of the coast. It is a must for every Shore resident's library.

Sandy was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history after Katrina, but the waters had barely receded from the Jersey coast when massive efforts began to “Restore the Shore.” Why do people build in areas open to repeated natural disasters? And why do they return to these areas in the wake of major devastation? Drawing on a variety of insights from environmental sociology, Superstorm Sandy answers these questions as it looks at both the unique character of the Jersey Shore and the more universal ways that humans relate to their environment. Diane C. Bates offers a wide-ranging look at the Jersey Shore both before and after Sandy, examining the many factors—such as cultural attachment, tourism revenues, and governmental regulation—that combined to create a highly vulnerable coastal region. She explains why the Shore is so important to New Jerseyans, acting as a key cultural touchstone in a state that lacks a central city or even a sports team to build a shared identity among the state’s residents. She analyzes post-Sandy narratives about the Jersey Shore that trumpeted the dominance of human ingenuity over nature (such as the state’s “Stronger than the Storm” advertising campaign) or proclaimed a therapeutic community (“Jersey Strong”)—narratives rooted in emotion and iconography, waylaying any thought of the near-certainty of future storms. The book also examines local business owners, politicians, real estate developers, and residents who have vested interests in the region, explaining why the Shore was developed intensively prior to Sandy, and why restoration became an imperative in the post-storm period. Engagingly written and insightful, Superstorm Sandy highlights the elements that compounded the disaster on the Shore, providing a framework for understanding such catastrophes and preventing them in the future.

From the Blizzard of 1888 to the Great Appalachian Storm of 1950, this storm book reveals the majesty and terror of the major storms to hit the mid-Atlantic region and New England. Truly a book for weather buffs--analysis of storms, filled with meteorological facts and details, this book is also for anyone who finds it impossible to turn away from breathtaking accounts of natural forces at their most powerful. Blizzards, hurricanes, northeasters and compelling stories are illustrated with historical weather maps and photographs, showing weather in all its worst fury and beauty.

This century has seen the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history—but who bears the brunt of these monster storms? Consider this: Five of the most expensive hurricanes in history have made landfall since 2005: Katrina ($160 billion), Ike ($40 billion), Sandy ($72 billion), Harvey ($125 billion), and Maria ($90 billion). With more property than ever in harm’s way, and the planet and oceans warming dangerously, it won’t be long before we see a $250 billion hurricane. Why? Because Americans have built $3 trillion worth of property in some of the riskiest places on earth: barrier islands and coastal floodplains. And they have been encouraged to do so by what Gilbert M. Gaul reveals in The Geography of Risk to be a confounding array of federal subsidies, tax breaks, low-interest loans, grants, and government flood insurance that shift the risk of life at the beach from private investors to public taxpayers, radically distorting common notions of risk. These federal incentives, Gaul argues, have resulted in one of the worst planning failures in American history, and the costs to taxpayers are reaching unsustainable levels. We have become responsible for a shocking array of coastal amenities: new roads, bridges, buildings, streetlights, tennis courts, marinas, gazebos, and even spoiled food after hurricanes. The Geography of Risk will forever change the way you think about the coasts, from the clash between economic interests and nature, to the heated politics of regulators and developers.

This reference traces the region's 400-year recorded hurricane history, from Jamestown to the present, drawing on accounts in newspaper articles, books, private journals, and interviews. Emphasizing the human side of a hurricane's aftermath rather than scientific aspects, each hurricane account tells how individuals and communities reacted to the storms. Storms are profiled in year-by-year entries from the 1600's to the current century.