Sandy: The Fall and Rise of Sea Bright

It's been six months since the Shrewsbury River met the Atlantic Ocean and obliterated the small slice of the peninsula beach town of Sea Bright.

The beach was in the street after the ocean had washed remnants of buildings, cars, personal belongings and even beach cabanas across the river and onto Rumson's shores and lawns.

Sea Bright was shut down and nearly flattened. In the days that followed, Mayor Dina Long gathered residents at Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School's Borden Stadium. It was there, on a now historic damp, dank day, that she gave what is now referred to as her "DO" speech.

Long relived to bleachers full of weathered and weary Sandy victims how, feeling distraught and down, sitting in what was left of her office, she roamed outside to get some air and think about how she was going to tell the residents of her town that they needed to be strong and primed for a Sea Bright comeback. It was then that she found two wind-torn letters from the marquee of the summer tradition mainstay Donovan's Reef —  DO.

Carrying the letters with her, the speech became her signature and that of the small seaside town.

Since that day, a lot has been done. Sea Bright Rising was borne out of Woody's Chris Wood and chef Donofrio Moscato's will to simply get people fed in a stark, wartorn parking lot. To date, more than $700,000 has been distributed, including 220 to Sea Bright area families, nine to businesses and two to the borough, Wood said.

Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School junior Charlotte Nagy's documentary of the storm caught the eye of Train's lead singer Pat Monahan and the group came to town to perform and build spirits for Christmas.

Now, several businesses have opened, there's been beach replenishment, clubs are rebuilding, the mammouth mountains of sand, collectively called Mount Sandy, are being raked and filtered and moved out of the parking lot and back to the beach, residents are moving back into their homes, unsafe buildings have been torn down and others have been elevated.

Long, residents and business owners have had their bouts with being beleaguered, but they've persisted in recovery — DOing. And there will be a reopening of Sea Bright party at the end of May, according to Sea Bright Rising principals.

That time is nearing and things are changing every day in Sea Bright.

Take a look at the above gallery of before and after photos as well as video clips to see how far Sea Bright has come.