. >> reporter: that is beach sand here in the town of manasquan d. it looks like an earthquake ripped up the paved from streets like the aftermath of a december blizzard. it looks like an earthquake ripped up the paved walkway that sat above the beach. but it is not just the famous shoreline suffering, inland, and sayville, emotions are raw. >> everything is ruined. >> reporter: at least two million electric customers in new jersey are still in the dark and may be for a while, and where there is power, gas lines run long ower and too much damage to their house. lisa and rich lisa and rich rarico carry what they could as they leave their point pleasant beach neighborhood, maybe for a long time. how long do you expect to be out of your house? >> much of that. >> reporter: the new jersey coast has been beaten up by storms before, but never quite like from the punch that sandy delivered. you know it has almost been a parade of bad news or things you need to know about, brian, the governor has cancelled halloween, trick-or-treating for the kids, giving ti

there is several feet of sand on 1st avenue here in manasquan and four feet of water on the roads at least. every single one of the 1500-plus homes between -ts bridge anthe bridge and ocean have received damage. megyn: this looks like the aftermath of a tornado, it looks like a tornado hit a lot of these homes. was the damage caused by the ocean, i mean the ocean was upon those homes? >> reporter: absolutely. the storm surge was the biggest issue here. the storm surge is what ripped up this asphalt boardwalk beneath our seat and dislodged many of the homes from their foundations and what ripped the front off of many of these houses and then brought the sand into the living rooms. the surge was very, very powerful, it left water on this island for a couple of days. it has now receded, which is the good news, but what its left behind is a terrible mess and, again, a lot of gas leaks and a dangerous situation for the people on the ground here. fortunately, megyn most of the people headed the mandatory evacuation order. the few who stayed i talked to a couple of them had a very, very sca

let's start with rick leventhal in man necessary sqaun -- manasquan new jersey. this week it took a devastating direct hit from hurricane sandy. the mile long boardwalk, really asphalt behind me, it has been shredded the steel bulkhead you can probably make out in the sand hasn't been exposed for 50 years. now all the sand chewed away left it bare. as you look at homes that line the atlantic ocean, million dollar plus homes have in many cases heavily damaged and destroyed. some are pushed off the foundation. we can smell the gas fumes in the air. the town has been closed. no one is being allowed in, including residents. only emergency workers and state police here to try to prevent looting. a short time ago we spoke with the town's mayor george dempsey lived here since 1943. he is depressed his town was beautiful and shocked but will be back and town will be back. he told us they did everything they could, including evacuating every resident who would leave before the storm arrived. >> we were very well-prepared but not prepared for the amount of damage we got. >