Bay Head officials say nor’easter beach damage will cost millions to repair
The nor’easter came less than two months after the passage of Hurricane Erin offshore.
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Damage assessment is underway at the Jersey Shore following a nor’easter that tore through New Jersey Sunday night into Monday.
Northern Ocean County just saw a $73 million beach replenishment this year - and on some beaches, a lot of that sand was swept out to sea.
“All of the sand that they pumped up during the summer is gone. The jetties are all exposed,” says Bay Head beach supervisor Hank Handchen. “Our walkways are all gone…all the snow fence that went the length of the beach is all gone.”
Handchen and Mayor Bill Curtis say they were at a loss for words while viewing the damage left behind from the storm.
“It's a shame that we have spent - the town and the [Bay Head Improvement Association] and the county – has spent all this money to give us sand for two months,” says Curtis.
Further south, typical trouble spots like Ortley Beach fared much better. Although dunes were flattened by water run-up, no visible damage could be found. And in Seaside Heights, the storm left parts of the beach looking more like a lunar landscape with some craters.
Bay Head officials say the damage could cost the town upwards of tens of millions of dollars.
“It’ll be millions and millions of dollars to redo everything that the last storm did. We'll need a lot of money,” says Handchen.
The nor’easter came less than two months after the passage of Hurricane Erin offshore. The Department of Environmental Protection found Bay Head suffered some of the worst erosion in the entire state, losing then 125 feet of beach.
As assessments on this storm begin, the mayor and supervisor don't expect their suggestions, like rebuilding jetties and moving the dune closer to the homes, will be taken seriously.
“You can't fight Mother Nature. Mother Nature is going to take that sand that they gave us and put it back in the hole that they dug it out of,” the mayor says.
