TV news is making us crazy. Before the storm made landfall, we heard 80 feet of the Atlantic City boardwalk had been destroyed. Then we heard Walt Hunter on TV say it was five to six blocks of boardwalk. Last night, we heard it was 300 yards. The reports still range from "it's totally gone" to "no serious damage."
In his most recent press conference, Chris Christie mentioned the ravaged Seaside Heights boardwalk but not AC. Part of the problem is that about 75 percent of AC is under water, and many news outlets and individuals have lost power. So what's accurate? To start off, there was the funereal BuzzFeed headline: In Memoriam: The Atlantic City Boardwalk.
Then there was this headline and sub-headline by Patch.com's Anthony Bellano:
Sandy Destroys Atlantic City Boardwalk
One of New Jersey, and the country's most famous landmarks, has been destroyed.
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos did an elegy for the Boardwalk, invoking Boardwalk Empire and the movie Beaches, saying nothing would ever be the same.
Here's a headline from The Inquisitr:
Cooper actually said that about Asbury Park, which is nowhere near the AC Boardwalk. This may explain why no one has ever heard of The Inquisitr.
Here's what the Associated Press says. We like the AP:
"In Atlantic City, most of the world-famous boardwalk was intact, but pieces washed away Monday night." Glass half-full. We're going with it.