Monmouth County's shore towns were hit hard by a winter storm, which dumped more than a foot of snow in places, knocked down several trees and power lines, and caused moderate flooding on Saturday. Watch video
The flooding was not as bad as feared in some spots of coastal Monmouth County, however the snow was much worse.
Belmar resident Brian Love was nearly an hour into shoveling out his driveway on Saturday, but only had a narrow walkway to show for it and had yet to reach the street.
"This is depressing," he joked. "It's a lot worse than I thought it would be. Usually the snow is lighter, but this is very heavy and wet snow."
Love had company while he worked. His 8-year-old daughter, Grace, was helping out in order to get the work done faster.
"When we're done we're going to build a fort!" she boasted.
"That's right, when we're done... which at this pace should be about five or six hours from now," Brian Love joked.
Besides some mild to moderate flooding, towns in Monmouth and Ocean counties largely escaped major problems that could have occurred with the morning's high tide. However, emergency officials were closely monitoring the potential for greater flooding with the next two successive high tides Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Michael Skolnik decided to stay at a friend's house in Belmar to avoid flooding issues by his Manasquan home.
He avoided the floodwaters, but found himself battling through the deep snow with a shovel instead - multiple times.
"I'm always skeptical, so this is a lot more snow than I thought we were going to get," Skolnik said. "I was out here shoveling last night and the snow was light and fluffy. But now that it's colder, and deeper, it's definitely a lot more difficult. You have to stay on top of it."
While many Monmouth County residents were trying to dig out from the blizzard, others took it as an opportunity to visit the beach.
Though it was not exactly a pleasant experience in most places.
The famous Asbury Park boardwalk, for example, was deserted with the exception of mounds of sand and snow.
There was also the punishing wind.
"We wanted to see the water, but we couldn't see past the dunes and the wind hurt our faces," one Manasquan resident said while walking back from the beach in Belmar.
As of 3 p.m., Jersey Central Power & Light was reporting that nearly 3,000 customers were without power in Monmouth County. More than 12,000 customers in Ocean County were without power at that time.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.