Over 1,700 Union Beach Homes Damaged by Sandy

It's no secret that Sandy's brutal assault on the Bayshore devastated Union Beach, a community of small bungalow style homes nestled along Raritan Bay. 

According to an analysis of New Jersey Department of Community Affairs data by NJSpotlight.com, the storm inflicted damage on 1,705 homes, including 1,426 houses and 296 rental units. 

The data further categorized the damage by the cost, labeling homes with under $8,000 in damage as "minor", homes with between $8,000 and $28,800 as "major", and homes with over $28,800 in damage as severe.

In Union Beach, there were reportedly 1,096 houses and 84 rentals with minor damage, 136 houses and 107 rentals with major damage, and 194 houses and 88 rentals with severe damage. 

The report indicates that 142 businesses in the borough reported they were impacted by the storm. 

By contrast, 64 homes in Aberdeen, 144 in Keyport, 50 in Hazlet and 1,335 in Keansburg were damaged.

According to a previous NJ Spotlight report, 85 percent of the 2,600 houses in the borough were flooded with at least two feet of water and four firehouses, an ambulance squad, the K-8 school, four fire trucks, fourteen police cars and three ambulances were also lost to Sandy's wrath. 

The average Federal Emergency Management Agency damage inspection statistics were organized by zip code rather than municipality. The average amount of damage came to $19,170.81 in the area with zip code 07735, where 2,018 homeowners sought FEMA assistance. It is also estimated that fifty percent of Union Beach residents qualify for low-income federal assistance.

Visit NJSpotlight.com to read more and search a town-by-town map of reported damage across New Jersey.