Superstorm Sandy Cleanup At Seaside Heights Begins

Seaside Heights was a famous tourist attraction long before the cast of Jersey Shore lived it up on the boardwalk. The pier was home to rides, games, and restaurants. Unfortunately, the destination wound up getting a solid chunk of Superstorm Sandy's wrath once she hit land. When the storm came through the famous New Jersey landmark, it tore apart most of those previously mentioned attractions that had long brought people to the destination. Perhaps most famously, the storm flooded the area, submerging the beloved Seaside Heights Jet Star coaster in water. Some months after the image of the submerged coaster made headlines, the city has now put the funds together to tear the structure down.

Last month, the Casino Pier Amusement Park Company worked out an agreement with Weeks Marine to pull items from the park out of the ocean, where they have rested since the big storm hit. While the paperwork was signed all the way back in April, it took several weeks for both parties to determine what rides were still hanging out in the water and what equipment it would take to retrieve those items. Now that all of these issues have been discussed and determined, the company was given the green light to begin pulling items from the Atlantic Ocean. According to USA Today, the deconstruction of the rollercoaster began today when the dredging company removed pieces of the iconic rollercoaster from the water.

Notably, Prince Harry was on hand to tour the pier Tuesday before deconstruction on the rollercoaster began. Cleaning up the water is expected to take roughly 48 hours. Further demolition will have to be done to a portion of the pier itself, which was also damaged during Hurricane Sandy. That demolition is expected to take quite a bit longer. However, once the wreckage can be cleared, it should pave the way for new hope, as well as new Seaside Heights attractions.

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