As the storm surge gradually receded and the winds finally died down, the colossal scale of devastation wrought on New Jersey's shoreline became grimly apparent yesterday.
It was here that America's biggest ever storm made a direct hit, ripping buildings from their foundations and sending them crashing into each other, tossing pleasure boats around like rag dolls and leaving them piled up like garbage in previously serene marinas.
New rivers were forged through leafy suburbs, streets disappeared under massive sand drifts, giant sink holes opened up in the ground, engulfing cars that some residents had belatedly used to try to flee.
From the air, sections of forlorn seaside resorts like Tuckerton and Harvey Cedars were left looking like Venice, their rooftops poking out of the iron grey sea.
Among the most incongruous scenes of destruction was a 40ft high roller coaster left sitting amid the waves off Seaside Heights, after Hurricane Sandy wiped out an amusement park around it. A 150ft stretch of pier lay smashed on the beach, tossed there like a giant handful of matchsticks.
Resident Danielle Hernandez, 28, was still in her pyjamas as the National Guard arrived to evacuate her, and her children aged five and nine, to an emergency shelter.
She told The Daily Telegraph: "We tried to heed the evacuation call but the battery on my car went flat. I've been cooking for my kids on an open fire for the last few days."
Bryan Murawski, a resident of Wall, New Jersey, said: "It was like a war zone, unbelievable, buildings crushed, completely gone, people's belongings everywhere. It brings tears to your eyes.
"Sometimes you take for granted what we have. It's hard to stomach. People are helping each other out with little things, like coffee, toilet paper."
Bulldozers started to clear debris from roads but street after street was piled with debris.
Lieutenant Vincent Petrecca said: "Its devastating. Every time I see it, it hits you all over again. A lot of these streets, we couldn't even get in here today because it was all flooded.
"Now the water's receding we're finding all kinds of damage."
The US death toll from Sandy rose above 60 and more than six million were without power.
Early estimates by financial experts put the potential cost of damage at $20 billion, with up to another $30 billion in lost business.
In New Jersey alone six people were dead and more than two million without power, as 75 per cent of the shore flooded. It could be 10 days before power is restored statewide.
It could be weeks before any train services start between New Jersey and New York. More than half the petrol stations in the state of New Jersey were shut.
In the flooded city of Hoboken, which has a population of 50,000, the National Guard arrived to help evacuate thousands of people stuck in their homes.
President Barack Obama last night arrived to tour devastated areas of the crippled state with its Governor Chris Christie.
The governor has been one of Mitt Romney's most prominent supporters, but he has been effusive in his praise of the President's response to the storm.
Mr Christie greeted Mr Obama as Air Force One landed on a sunny, breezy day in Atlantic City. The two men boarded the presidential helicopter for an hour-long aerial tour of the storm damage.
"I want to let you know that your governor is working overtime," Mr Obama told people at an emergency shelter after the tour. "The entire country has been watching what's been happening. Everybody knows how hard Jersey has been hit."
They spoke with victims and Mr Christie said: "It's really important to have the president of the United States here."
Mr Christie signed an executive order postponing Halloween celebrations in his state.
Firefighters were desperately trying to reach the cut-off New Jersey barrier island of Mantoloking, which was hit by fires from gas leaks.
The bridge to the island was wiped out along with the homes next to it. A single house survived as the ocean swirled around it.
In the gambling hub of Atlantic City sand and lumber from wrecked homes was dumped on a children's playground, and part of its famous boardwalk was washed away.
Cape May saw beaches picked up and thrown inland, leaving homes several blocks away in surrounded by sand as high as street signs.
On Osborn Island, a low-lying, two-mile square strip of land, the destruction was brutal with almost all of the 550 homes affected.
Around half the residents live on the island full-time while the remainder own holiday properties, mooring their pleasure boats in a network of narrow lagoons. For many, fishing is a way of life.
In almost every garden of every house, vast piles of debris brought in by the storm surge piled up. Fishing boats could be seen smashed in ditches or half submerged. Others lay upside down or on their sides on residents' front lawns.
In the lagoons, wooden pontoons used to access residents' fishing boats were smashed to pieces. Jet skis were battered and turned upside down and driveways were covered in a flotsam of sticks, timber, mud and plastic.
Steve Schaffer, 37, a Latin teacher, said: "The tide just came right up the street. My ground floor was in two feet of water and the force of the surge lifted the fence around my garden right out of the ground. We are going to have to completely start over."
As the storm moved north toward Canada it causes more chaos with flood warnings in the Great Lakes region and heavy snow in the Appalachian mountains.
Meanwhile, the rescue operations continued in New Jersey last night as the National Guard combed the shoreline.
Homeowner John Mazzacarro, in Lavallette, managed to stick it out during the storm, but was finally evacuated yesterday with his belongings in just a few plastic bags.
"It was crazy. I woke up and my bed was floating," he said. "I've been here for some storms but nothing, nothing like this."
Roberta Fourness, 70, looked exhausted as she emerged from her house covered in mud, with a suitcase and her three dogs. Why did she ignore the mandatory evacuation call? "Because I'm a moron," she said. Why is she leaving now? " Because I need a bath, " she replied.
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