Metro

Jersey Shore’s ride to ruin

Wrecked Roller Coaster (AP)

A wrecked roller coaster that once sat on the Funtown Pier — and now rests in the Atlantic — was a grim symbol of Hurricane Sandy’s wrath yesterday as stunned Jersey Shore residents got their first chance to see the horrific damage.

The roller coaster was a star attraction of Seaside Heights until Monday night, when a section of the pier collapsed and was washed up on the beach.

Meanwhile, homeowners returned to Point Pleasant Beach for the first time since Sandy and found a wet wasteland.

“A lot of tears are being shed today,” said Dennis Cucci, whose home sustained heavy damage. “It’s absolutely mind-boggling.”

“It looks like a bomb went off here,” said Barbara Montemarano after she and husband Robert drove to see what was left of their condo near the ocean.

“There’s almost nobody here; it looks like tumbleweeds are rolling down the street.”

About half of Point Pleasant Beach’s famous mile-long boardwalk was either destroyed or seriously damaged by the storm — yet a large central section of the boardwalk survived unscathed.

Statewide, the New Jersey death toll from Hurricane Sandy reached 14 yesterday and some 1.7 million people remained without power.


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In Hoboken, nearly 20,000 people remained stranded in their homes by floodwaters.

“I lost anything I’ve ever built, and worked for and saved for,” said Lorenzo Magarelli, 64, standing in his soggy, fish- and salt-water scented living room.

Magarelli said he felt helpless when within 20 to 25 minutes, he found himself in four to five feet of water. “You can’t pump water back into the ocean when you’re in the ocean,” he said.

On a nearby block Jeff Radlin, 34, was exhausted as he moved ruined items from his garden apartment. “We don’t even know what day it is,” he said of himself and his brother, who lives next door and suffered flood damages.