President Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took a helicopter tour of the areas devastated by Hurricane Sandy on Wednesday afternoon. The White House press pool followed in a separate helicopter, and took photos of the same view Obama and Christie had, plus a shot of Marine One, seen above.

Remember those photos of the rollercoaster in the ocean Tuesday? The ones people thought were fake? They were real. Here's an aerial view of the ride in the middle of the water:

Close up:

(Photo via Associated Press.)

Another view of the washed away pier:

The waterslide is just barely hanging on:

(Photos via Reuters.)

More over Seaside Heights, New Jersey -- a bridge washed away:

Damaged houses in the sand:

The boardwalk is gone, and so are many homes:

Earlier, the New Jersey governor's office handed out more photos of Seaside to the press:

Christie greeted Obama on the tarmac at the Atlantic City airport Tuesday:

(Photos via Associated Press.)

At the Brigantine Beach Community Center, a shelter for local residents during the storm, Obama told a room of about 125 people, "I want to let you know that your governor is working overtime," according to the pool report. He said the priority was to get the power back on for people whose homes weren't too damaged and getting FEMA help for those who can't go back to their homes. Then there was this exchange:

Obama: "The main message I wanted to send is the entire country has been watching what's been happening. Everybody knows how hard Jersey's been hit."

Man in audience: "Except my boss."

Obama: "Well, except your boss. If you need me to call, you let me know."

The room laughed. Then Chris Christie told the crowd:

"I just want to tell all of you exactly what the president just said. I know he means it. We took a whole tour of the coast. He got a chance to see the destruction along the coast of New Jersey and we've been working with [FEMA] Director Fugate here to make sure that we need the things we need to get here. This state is working hard too, you know we're working hard. I want to thank the president for coming here today. It's really important to have the president of the United States acknoweldge all the suffering that's going on here in New Jersey and I appreciate it very much. We're going to work together to make sure we get ourselves through this crisis and get everything back to normal. Thank you for coming, sir." 

Then they spoke with people staying at the center.

(Photo via Reuters.)

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Elspeth Reeve