Iconic Jersey shore reels after Hurricane Sandy

It is an American icon, the backdrop to 1,000 stories - where Tony Soprano's nightmares unfolded, where Snooki and The Situation brought reality TV to the ocean's edge, and where Bruce Springsteen conjured a world of love and loss with a girl named, incongruously, Sandy.

But after the storm of the same name passed through last week, the seaside towns of the Jersey shore have been upended, and some of the boardwalks have been pushed into the sea.

Those who live there, those who spent their childhood weekends there and those who experience its stories from afar are asking different versions of the same question: What happens now?

All along New Jersey's 204-kilometre coastline, the storm wrecked communities rich and poor, from multimillion-dollar homes in Bay Head and Mantoloking to working-class bay-front bungalows.

Boardwalks were trashed and a roller coaster was dumped into the ocean. The worst damage was nearest the sea, but winds and water wrecked thousands of homes several kilometres inland as well. Damage assessments are still being made.

"Who ever thought they'd see a roller coaster in Seaside Heights in the ocean?" New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said. He vowed to help rebuild the shore, while cautioning it might not look exactly the same.

For many people, the Jersey shore is much more than a place; it's an identity, a brand, an attitude. It's where Christie, while on a stroll with his family, lashed out at a heckler last summer.