Three weeks after Superstorm Sandy slammed the Garden State, clean-up, recovery and rebuilding efforts continue across New Jersey, but it's still not clear how many billions of dollars in damage were caused by the hurricane.

During this evening's edition of Townsquare Media's Ask the Governor show, Governor Chris Christie, who's been continually touring hard-hit areas, said it will take the state years to get everything back to normal, because after the storm swept through, "we woke up that next morning to a level of destruction that we've never seen in the state's history."

Gov. Christie in the studio for November's edition of Ask the Governor (Photo: Annette Petriccione)
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Despite that, Christie said, "Everyone in New Jersey has power, 98 percent of our schools are open and operating, all of our state roads are open with the exception of sections of 35 and 36 which are now near ready to open - we have clean water for everybody, the sewage plants are now running."

He added that all things that were not operational now are.

"It's been an incredible 3 weeks...but I think we're in a much better place now than we were 3 weeks ago tonight," Christie said.

What about Shore communities?

In addition to towns struggling to clean up after Superstorm Sandy, shore communities must deal with lost revenue as they work to rebuild before next summer. The Jersey Shore is the economic engine that powers New Jersey's multi-billion dollar tourism industry.

Earlier today, members of New Jersey's congressional delegation met with the Governor, and reached out to the Obama administration, requesting funding for beach replenishment and flood control projects around the state.

Meanwhile, as the Red Cross continues to help those displaced by the Superstorm, representatives from the Salvation Army New Jersey chapter have fanned out across the state, collecting donations to help the hardest-hit families.

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