. >> reporter: in the jersey shore town of mantoloking, progress is measured one boulder at a time. >it's an investment. >> i think it's worth it. >> reporter: mike becker is repairing his home and building a rock wall to protect it from future storms. it's costing him more than $100,000. >> it's worth it. it's going to save my house, and my family will be using this house for generations. >> reporter: at the same time, the town is fighting other homeowners over property lines. right now residents own the land from their homes to the shoreline. the army corps of engineers wants to fill in and extend the beach 150 feet into the ocean. residents would not own that small strip of new land. all 127 beach front residents have the to agree to the plan and a handful of refusing. that's upsetting to mantoloking town council president steve gillingham. >> are you surprised people are holding out? >> yeah. to me it's incredible they would not see the value of the project to their own property. >> reporter: but residents holding out told us their property values would drop, and the army corps ca

just down ocean avenue in mantoloking, not one house spared. >> i just look and tears come to my eyetime i drive up and down route 35 and look at those houses. >> famous for images like this. bill and leuie lost the home they'd lived in for decades. >> supports gave way, supports dropped down and tilted toward the ocean. >> this week they watched that home come down. >> just how sad it is that it's being destroyed, that we couldn't save it. >> of the 520 homes here in mantoloking, 56 of them washed away the night sandy struck. many, many more so damaged they're uninhabitable, being torn down one after the next after the next. all-in, sandy took about 40% of the homes in this town. now, a beach so eroded it offers little protection from future storms. >> most people will want to rebuild and will rebuild. i think the reluctance will exist until we can guarantee them safety from a similar storm. >> mayor george nebel is fighting for 20-foot-high dunes, a protective wall beneath them and quadrupling the width of the beach. but even with those improvements. >> oh, god, do we look young th

just down ocean avenue in mantoloking, not one house spared. >> i look and tears come to my eye everyi drive up and down route 35 and look at those houses. >> famous for images like this. >> supports gave way, the supports dropped down and tilted the house toward the ocean. >> for bill and louie, it's just too much. >> if we could have rehabbed it, we absolutely would have. it's too broken. >> this week they watched their home come down. >> just how sad it is that it's being destroyed. that we couldn't save it. >> of the 520 homes here in mantoloking, 56 of them washed away the night sandy struck. many, many more so damaged they're uninhabitable, being torn down one after the next after the next. all-in, sandy took about 40% of the homes in this town. now, a beach so eroded it offers little protection from future storms. >> most people will want to rebuild and will rebuild. i think the reluctance will exist until we can guarantee them safety from a similar storm. >> major george nebel is fighting for 20-foot high dunes, a protective wall beneath them and quadrupling the width of the b

this was really a tour of two shores, seaside heights, where progress is being made and nearby mantolokinghere the recovery has just begun. many feel the devastation never got the attention it deserved. a visit from prince harry helped. >> hopefully the attention will get things moving a lot faster. >> reporter: the boardwalk proved to the prince and everyone else it was back in business. >> yeah! >> first prize right there. >> oh my gosh, i never met a prince before, i don't know what to say. >> reporter: much to the royal delight of two little girls. >> you always think princes are like -- >> reporter: shining armor on a horse. yeah, yeah, i totally get it. >> yeah, and he's really down-to-earth and just wanted to have fun with people, with us, so it was really nice. >> reporter: wherever prince harry goes, an international spotlight follows. for people here, a royal visit also meant a welcome distraction. stephanie gosk, nbc news, seaside heights, new jersey. >> we hope he enjoyed the jersey shore. >>> that's our broadcast on a tuesday night. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian

visiting two of the most devastated areas today, mantoloking and seaside heights. 21 homes wrrm destroyed next stop was seaside heights which was home to mtv jersey shore. no snooki sightings. he had nothing but praise when describing experience down the shore. >> you can see how many people have come out. everyone is working together. >> the prince then went on to attend several events in new york city including a fundraiser and an inner city youth baseball game and then tomorrow he heads to connecticut for a polo match. quite a well-rounded trip, i would say, shep. >> shepard: julie, thank you, crews are started demolishing the roller coaster that plunged off the pier. they began the job this afternoon after prince harry's visit. a spokeswoman says it should take about four or five days to remove that jet star coaster from the landscape. the british prime minister david cammeron is also in the united states and today paid his respects to the victims of the terror attack in boston. stopped this morning at makeshift memorial near the site of the bombings. cammeron says the united kingdom

there are some areas still suffering and it will be a long hall, rockaways a while, monday toe lo mantolokingand i think it's emblematic for the other shoreline communities of connecticut, of delaware, of maryland, the carolinas, new york, again, they're all working hard to bring this back, some are having a little more success than others but everybody wants this to come back. they're not going to rest until it's done but the national hurricane center just out with the forecast for 2013. >> not looking good? >> it is very active. normal number of named storms 11, they're predicting anywhere from 13 to 20. 11 named hurricanes and of those three to six could be major hurricanes. that doesn't mean they'll all make landfall but you just need one. >> coming down here, as somebody who grew up in no, jerth jersey drive down, springsteen playing, and to be able to come down and feel good about it after coming down the last few months worried about what was going to happen, to see governor christie cutting the ribbon feels really good. it's a good day in seaside heights. it's always a good day when y