By Jim Melwert

MARGATE, N.J. (CBS) — As the sun came up this morning, the damage at the Jersey shore as a result of Hurricane Sandy became apparent (see related story).

Residents in Margate say the flooding from Sandy is the worst they’ve ever seen.

Walter Brahman, who lives on North 32nd Avenue in Margate, says the ocean met the bay.

“Water got to be about three feet deep, some people had it in their houses,” he told KYW Newsradio this morning.  “My house is a block higher, so I don’t have it in my house, but it was pretty wild — highest I’ve seen it.  Got pretty crazy.  As you can see, there’s fish in the street.”

Seagulls were picking at a dead fish that got left behind when the waters receded.

Brahman says the wind was enough to shake his home.

Mike Brestle was taking pictures along Ventnor Avenue of tree branches and a traffic light that came down in the storm.  He stuck it out in Margate last night, in a house about three blocks from the beach.

“It was pretty bad,” he said this morning.  “The water was all the way up, coming right up to my porch.  I had a generator, the winds really got bad again around 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock.  The winds got up real high.”

Ocean Drive from Longport to Somers Point was closed due to several downed telephone poles, and because a couple of boats had washed onto the roadway.

From Ocean City, NJ, David Madden reports that beaches are hammered and debris litters many streets. The main road through the southern part of town is waterlogged.

Many residents can’t remember a storm this bad.  Most heeded the evacuation order.  George Scavola didn’t, and his apartment is about a block from the boardwalk.

“It was very, very windy,” he tells KYW Newsradio.  “Pouring down rain. Stuff flying everywhere.  My transformer blew out, so I have no electric.  And then it would die down for a little while, and then it would just pick right back up again.”

The ocean met the bay here at the height of the storm.  The good thing: no one was seriously hurt.  Still, the cleanup and recovery won’t be easy.