The pathway at John F. Kennedy Boulevard leads to beaches that remain in good shape overall.
Sea Isle City’s beaches and dunes escaped with only minor erosion during the Columbus Day weekend storm, despite being pounded by heavy surf for two straight days.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio said the city is still conducting a full assessment of the storm damage, but early reports indicate “that our beaches held up very well.”
“While we did suffer some moderate erosion west of the Townsends Inlet Bridge, the rest of the beaches from the north end to the Townsends Inlet Bridge had no cliffing of our dunes and only minor erosion,” Desiderio said in a report to City Council during a meeting Tuesday.
The term “cliffing” refers to the shearing away of the dunes by the big waves to create sharp edges that resemble mini-cliffs that can tower 10 feet high or more.
Although Sea Isle’s dunes have been left with cliff-like drop-offs in previous storms, that was not the case with the powerful nor’easter that pummeled the Jersey Shore over the holiday weekend.
“There was no dune loss other than west of the Townsends Inlet Bridge. We’re finding only minor erosion. It was a pleasant surprise,” City Business Administrator George Savastano said of the overall good condition of the beaches and dunes.
In 2024, a beach replenishment project added a total of 932,000 cubic yards of new sand to Sea Isle’s shoreline from 73rd Street to 94th Street in the south end of the island and from 29th Street to 53rd Street in the central part of town. The fresh sand widened the beaches and restored the dunes.
Savastano said he believes that all of the new sand from the beach replenishment project helped to minimize the erosion during the weekend storm.
“We put a lot of new sand in the system, and it helped,” he said in an interview after the Council meeting.
The weekend storm also brought flooding, gusty winds and drenching rain on Sunday and Monday. Like other shore towns, Sea Isle dealt with extensive flooding on its local streets.
Desiderio, though, said it seemed “that most everyone” heeded the storm warnings and limited their travel on flooded streets and also took the time to secure their properties.
As the storm finally winds down, there remains one Coastal Flood Advisory issued for Tuesday up until 8 p.m. Only minor flooding is expected.
Looking north, the dunes still form a continuous, protective barrier despite the storm's pounding waves.
