By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Lu Ann Mashura struggled to keep the hood on her rain jacket from blowing off her head while she was walking her two dogs in a downpour and blustery winds.
“I’m used to it. I’ve lived here for over 30 years,” Mashura, a resident of 40th Street, said of Sea Isle City’s penchant for coastal storms.
Her dogs, Adele and Jade, seemed equally unfazed by the wicked weather, even though they were getting drenched while stretching their legs.
“They love it,” Mashura said, smiling.
It was hard to believe that anyone could love the wet, windy and wild weather that lashed the coast Saturday during a slow-moving nor’easter that had the audacity to arrive on Mother’s Day weekend. What kind of mom, for heaven’s sake, is Mother Nature?
Heavy rain, strong winds, temperatures stuck in the chilly low 50s and the threat of minor to moderate flooding over the weekend created nasty conditions at the shore.
Wind-whipped waves cresting in white caps and blowing sand made the beach a particularly inhospitable place to be on Saturday.
Sea Isle’s Office of Emergency Management issued a statement warning that high tide at around 2 a.m. Sunday would create the biggest threat for flooding. A coastal flood warning remains in effect for Sea Isle until 7 a.m. Sunday.
Continued rounds of flooding will persist through the weekend as well as heavy rain before it begins to taper off on Sunday, according to the OEM statement.
Northeast winds blowing from 25 to 40 mph – and gusting up to 60 mph – had the potential to blow down trees and power lines, the Sea Isle Police Department said in a weather alert.
However, Capt. Anthony Garreffi, the officer in charge of the police department, said Saturday morning he had not heard of any reports of damage in town.
The storm forced Sea Isle to postpone some of the events Saturday that were planned as part of its annual Community Day celebration, including the renaming of 89th Street in honor of David Tapper, a Navy Seal killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2003.
Tapper and his family had longtime ties to Sea Isle and would spend summers at their former vacation home on 89th Street. The street dedication ceremony has been rescheduled for June 11.
