Ortley Beach Residents Seeing Homes For First Time Since Sandy

ORTLEY BEACH, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- More residents and property owners along the hardest-hit parts of the Jersey Shore are being allowed to inspect their homes.

More than 100 Ortley Beach residents started lining up in the middle of the night at a Toms River shopping center to board buses that would take them home for the first time since Sandy struck, CBS 2's Ann Mercogliano reported.

1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reports

Ortley Beach was devastated by Sandy. Entire blocks were wiped off the map and virtually every home still standing sustained some level of damage, 1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reported.

"Some people are going to see a house that has some water in it, others are going to see a house that is not there anymore," Toms River Police Captain Bruce Burgess said.

Bob and Patty Chukowski were overwhelmed when they saw their family beach house of 30 years which was flooded with five feet of water.

"Everything was covered with water, there's mold everywhere, mud, slime," Bob Chukowski said.

"I never expected it to be this bad," Patty Chukowski said. "Everything we had in it is lost."

Residents were permitted to bring a suitcase to gather any belongings they could, but in many cases there was nothing left.

"I couldn't even save a stitch of clothing," resident Frank Turner said. "Everything is gone."

"Everything is gone, nothing is salvageable," resident Lisa Lasanco said.

The first phase of re-entry to Ortley Beach covers 555 homes between Route 35 north and south from the Lavallette border to Seaside Heights.

For more information on the re-entry plan click here.