Most beaches repaired in time for Labor Day weekend

Eight days after punishing waves and winds generated by Hurricane Erin lashed the beaches, most of the towns at the Jersey Shore seem to have recovered just in time for the big Labor Day weekend.

Day-trippers and vacationers heading to the shore for the traditional end of the summer tourism season may find a small number of beaches still closed due to storm damage on Aug. 21.

However, the state Department of Environmental Protection said New Jersey’s 127-mile oceanfront coastline fared reasonably well from the storm’s impacts – although some towns suffered moderate or more serious erosion to their beaches and dunes.

“Preliminary indications are that while notable erosion occurred, primarily along the southern three-fourths of the coast and in areas prone to erosion, beaches overall withstood the impacts of Erin and performed their function in protecting property,” the DEP said in a statement.

Bergen County resident Marina Radvinsky, who is vacationing with her family in Strathmere, said she had feared that her time at the shore would be ruined by the hurricane’s beach erosion.

“We were definitely worried about our vacation. We have been coming here for 10 years,” Radvinsky said of Strathmere.

She praised Strathmere officials for making a quick recovery from the storm, including repairing the beaches that had been closed during the first part of her vacation.

“It was so quick. It was a surprise. We were so happy,” she said in an interview Friday.

    Beachgoer Joan Schlote, of Wayne, Pa., leans against a lifeguard stand in Strathmere while cliff-like drop-offs in the dunes loom in the background.
  

Radvinsky and her family are staying on Vincent Avenue in Strathmere. Early on during their vacation, they had to make a four-block detour to get to the beach because Vincent Avenue’s beach pathway was closed due to erosion, she said.

Although repairs at Vincent Avenue have allowed Strathmere to reopen the beach, the pathway now has a steep slope down to the beach.

“My kids were sledding down the hill. They were using their boogie boards to slide into the water,” Radvinsky said, laughing, while recounting her children’s playtime on the pathway.

Another beachgoer in Strathmere, Joan Schlote, also was concerned that beach erosion caused by Erin would spoil her trip to the shore.

“I didn’t know what to expect. I’m 86 years old, so naturally I’m concerned,” Schlote said.

When she arrived in Strathmere on Friday, Schlote was relieved to find the beaches in reasonably good shape. She was relaxing on the Vincent Avenue beach with her two sisters and her cousin.

Reflecting the hurricane’s power, the waves cut deeply into some of Strathmere’s dunes, leaving mini-cliffs that towered over Schlote and other beachgoers.

    The dunes suffered significant erosion in Ocean City in the area of 5th Street and 6th Street.
  

Strathmere, Atlantic City, Brigantine, Ocean City, Avalon, North Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, Wildwood and Cape May were among the shore communities in Atlantic and Cape May counties that lost beach sand or saw some of their dunes washed away, creating steep drop-offs in a process called “scarping.”

From Brigantine through Ocean City, there was moderate erosion caused by waves running up to the dunes or upper levels of the beach, the DEP said.

Sections of Atlantic City saw some areas of notable beach loss, some minor dune scarping and some fence damage north of St. James Place in the North Beach section, according to the DEP.

Ocean City experienced wave run-up under the Boardwalk at 5th Street and additional dune scarping from 4th Street to around 11th Street.

Farther south, there was moderate erosion to the beaches and dunes from Strathmere to Cape May. The Strathmere section of Upper Township and Avalon had some beach and dune scarping.

North Wildwood suffered beach erosion and damage to some of its pathways over the dunes. Wildwood Crest also saw the waves wash up to the dunes.

In Wildwood, the wave action created some “ponding” of the seawater on the beaches under the Boardwalk. Cape May saw the waves run up to the upper portion of the beach and over the dunes onto Beach Drive at Wilmington Avenue, the DEP said.

    Sea Isle City's beaches survived the storm with only minimal damage.
  

The DEP is in the process of completing inspections of erosion to beaches in Monmouth, Ocean, Atlantic and Cape May counties in Hurricane Erin’s aftermath and will post a Coastal Storm Survey & Damage Assessment report within several days at https://dep.nj.gov/wlm/drec/ce/coastal-storms/.

Ocean City Mayor Jay Gillian said the hurricane damage underscored the importance of having funding available for beach replenishment projects that help to protect homes and businesses.

Gillian and other mayors from shore towns met with Congressman Jeff Van Drew last week to develop a plan for dedicated federal funding for beach replenishment projects.

Van Drew, a Republican who represents shore communities in Atlantic and Cape May counties and part of Ocean County, said he intends to propose legislation to create a permanent and reliable source of federal funding to continue to protect the beaches and dunes.

“The program has been an unquestionable success across the eight miles of Ocean City beaches, since it was first launched in the early 1990s. I would like to invite anybody who doubts the effectiveness of the program to visit us to see exactly how it has created miles of wide beaches and a protective dune system,” Gillian said of the beach replenishment projects.

    There is now a steep, sandy pathway down to the beach at Vincent Avenue in Strathmere.