It could have been worst, much worst. That's the conclusion of Asbury Park Mayor Ed Johnson after surveying the damage left by Hurricane Sandy.

Stony Pony
Stone Pony in Asbury Park (Michael Loccisano, Getty Images)
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Mayor Johnson says he was in awe of the destruction of the Super Storm, "The sheer power of a force that can pick up metal containers and move buildings and send ocean water almost four blocks away from the beach. We've seen almost 100, 150 year old trees ripped out the ground by the roots and utility polls snapped like pencils.

Johnson says the storm also tore away the dunes and natural protections on the beaches leaving them and neighboring towns vulnerable for the next storm and pieces of boardwalk were also found two and a half blocks away from the ocean in chunks and wooden planks were buckled in a couple of places.

However, he says the majority of the boardwalk remains intact with the northern end of it sustaining the least damage because it was fortified this past summer as part of the Bamboozle concert preparations.

Johnson describes the Super Storm as sobering, and a storm that tested all of our systems. He says it not only caused concerns in Asbury Park, but through out the entire region thanks to the prolonged days without electricity, food, the inability to get gas or use debit cards to buy food. "Really I don't think anybody was prepared for this extended period of time without power and without food."

He says "I think it's really going to speak to the resilience of Asbury Park. Anyone who knows the history of Asbury Park knows that Asbury Park has been through tougher times than this. I certainly don't want to minimize the damage that was caused, you know the heartbreak that this has caused to business owners and the effect its had on our community but if you know Asbury Park, you know that we went through and economic winter, an economic depression here, where we were a ghost town. We came back from that and we will certainly come back from this."

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