Strong winds, tidal flooding and even hail left sections of Ocean County underwater and damaged.

Susan Rubini lives across the street from the Seaside Park water tower, where construction was underway.

“It took them about two weeks to wrap the whole entire thing. Took Mother Nature about 24 hours to take it all apart,” Rubini said. “You really would have needed a big needle and thread to put that one back together. It was bad.”

Repairs on the tower were set to begin on Friday – including interior and exterior maintenance. A protective tarp was placed over it before repairs began. The storm ripped the tarp to shreds.

Meanwhile, parts of Barnegat Bay Island became impassable from another round of Thursday morning high tides. A familiar sight, now a common way of barrier Island living.

“It's potentially tragic. People can't even get out of their homes on the bay side so it has to put all of our police, emergency response people on alert. Everyone has to be in general transportation of business and their daily lives. It's disrupting everything,” said Seaside Park Mayor John Peterson Jr.

Strong winds sent a tree into a home in Toms River. Those same winds helped push the bay onto the streets.

“It's getting significant that we are going to have to do something or we're going to have to give up. It's decision time,” added Rubini.

Peterson says all nine mayors of the island communities formed a coalition to help obtain state and federal funding and hopefully lessen the impacts of the ever-increasing flood events.

“Everyone's remarked that it's something above and beyond the sea level rise something above and beyond the New Jersey landmass sinking, there is something else going on,” said Mayor Peterson.

Despite the damage to the protective tarp covering the water tower, the delay from this is only supposed to last an extra three to four days, according to officials.

The Barnegat Bay Island Mayors Coalition is also scheduled to meet again in the next two weeks to help push those flood mitigation efforts forward.