Ortley Beach, N.J., Still Vacated, Recovers Slowly By Peter Applebome and Emma Cott Coming Back: A Good Foundation: Contractor Mike Pedano was two weeks away from finishing his family's Ortley Beach vacation home when Hurricane Sandy hit. ORTLEY BEACH, N.J. - Gone is the smell of gas from fractured pipes that hung eerily in the air when rescue workers first arrived. But what you see now is not much better - the buildings knocked down or ripped open like stage sets, the endless mounds of junked refrigerators, soaked insulation and shattered glass. There is no electricity, gas service or drinkable water. No one is back home and no business is operating. There are about 2,400 residences in town. Virtually every one was damaged by the storm. About 10 percent were destroyed. But six weeks after Hurricane Sandy sent cascades of seawater roaring through local streets, Mike Pedano, a contractor who knows enough about building to believe only what his eyes tell him, looked around and thought, Well, so far, so good. Wayward houses, boats and downed power lines had been dislodged from streets. A tractor sat atop a 50-foot-high mountain of sand that is part of the beach and dune rebuilding. Ortley Beach will be shut down four days this week for gas service restoration, which could happen by the end of the month for houses structurally sound enough. More than 200 loads of debris, 100 cubic yards each, had been hauled away. "We were told this was all going to be closed down for 8 to 10 months," said Mr. Pedano, 55, known around town as Uncle Mike, who was within a week or two of completing a two-family beach house for himself and his cousin, Pete Rizzuto, when the storm wrecked the first floor but left it standing. They're moving faster than Grant took Richmond.  But while progress on the infrastructure has been dramatic, residents have been allowed home only for a few days, so restoration has come in baby steps - at least for those with homes left to restore. So the trucks and vans with the stickers that allow access to the island - Chicago Water and Fire Restoration, Samaritan's Purse Disaster Relief, Lombardo's Roofing and Exteriors - tell the tale. They are here not to rebuild houses - that will come later - but to preserve, decontaminate, stabilize or demolish existing ones so the rebuilding can start later on. On Memorial Day 2011 Mr. Pedano and Mr. Rizzuto decided to bid on a bungalow at 10 Fourth Avenue that had been occupied by the same family for 50 years and had just come on the market. They closed on Aug. 23, the day people ran in terror off the beach as a result of the rare East Coast earthquake. A few days later, the house survived Hurricane Irene unscathed. In May 2012, they began converting the bungalow to a 3,500-square-foot, three-story, two-family house. The idea was a place with the look of Cape Cod and the feel of Uncle Mike's Seaside Inn and Spa for a small army of relatives, friends and neighbors. "This was Club Med," he said. In addition to the damage to the house, Mr. Pedano lost a $75,000 dump truck, a $65,000 track hoe and $40,000 in tools. Insurance will not cover any of the work on the outside of the house, like the $25,000 in patio work that was blown away, and his $250,000 in flood insurance will not cover all of his damage. "It's going to be ugly for a while," he said. Sue Notte across the street came over, and they compared notes. "They're doing a great job on the big picture, but with all the little things every homeowner needs to do, we just don't know," she said. My homeowner's hasn't been here. My structural engineer hasn't been here yet. My FEMA hasn't been here yet. I feel like we're doing a little bit, but we're not sure if we're doing what we should be doing. They will know a lot more this week. The township, following Gov. Chris Christie's lead, has encouraged residents to rebuild their homes and said they will be allowed to rebuild within the same footprint, even if the house does not comply with local zoning provisions. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency is releasing updated flood elevation maps that, especially for property owners near the beach, could mean some combination of higher flood insurance premiums, lower insurance coverage or the expense, perhaps $30,000, of raising their property. For some people, that could make rebuilding unaffordable. But for now, there is ruined insulation to be ripped out, plumbing to be winterized, windows to be boarded up. The sign spray-painted in front of Mr. Pedano's house reads: WWPIT. It stands for We Will Put It Together. His house in Fairfield was flooded out last year by Hurricane Irene. He built it back and said he would build this one back, too. He said the house might be habitable by Memorial Day. If not, then July 4 or Labor Day. If not this year, next year. "This is only temporary," Uncle Mike said. We will be back.