Popular "Flood Cam" remains offline in Sea Isle City

One way that residents and visitors in Sea Isle City can get a sense of the severity of coastal storms is by watching a webcam that livestreams images from one of the most flood-prone areas of town.

However, web viewers who wanted to watch the “Flood Cam” during the powerful Columbus Day weekend nor’easter at the Jersey Shore found out that it was temporarily out of service. It was still offline on Wednesday.

The New Jersey Coastal Coalition, the nonprofit group that oversees the webcam, says that technical difficulties have caused the outage.

Tom Quirk, the coalition’s executive director, explained that if the problems can’t be fixed, a new camera will be installed. He didn’t immediately know how long it is expected to take to restore the images.

“We’re trying to work through the problem,” Quirk said in an interview Wednesday.

Ever since it was launched in 2019, the 24-hour flooding camera has attracted thousands of views from residents and visitors who use it during storms to keep an eye on rising floodwaters at the intersection of 40th Street and Central Avenue.

“People love cameras. That’s always one of our most popular website destinations,” Sea Isle spokeswoman Katherine Custer said.

When the camera is working, viewers may watch the livestream by clicking on a link on Sea Isle’s websites at seaislecitynj.us or visitsicnj.com.

They may also go directly to the Coastal Coalition’s website at Floodcams | New Jersey Coastal Coalition (njcoastalcoalition.com).

The webcam is installed on Sea Isle's Public Works building overlooking the intersection of 40th Street and Central Avenue. The live video allows residents and visitors to watch flooding in real time, giving them a chance to move their cars to safety and take other steps to protect their property before it’s too late.

The intersection of 40th and Central was chosen for the camera because that is where floodwater often begins in Sea Isle during coastal storms.

    The webcam is installed on Sea Isle's Public Works building overlooking the intersection of 40th Street and Central Avenue, one of the most flood-prone areas of town.
  

Neil Byrne, the city’s floodplain manager and construction official, has described the intersection as a “barometer” for flooding throughout the island. Byrne explained that the webcam is an important part of Sea Isle’s storm alert system when the town is threatened with flooding or other harsh weather.

“I think it’s another tool in our efforts to get information out to the public,” Byrne said Wednesday.

Byrne noted that Sea Isle will help the New Jersey Coastal Coalition to bring the webcam back online. But he emphasized that the camera belongs to the coalition, not the city.

“We know it’s a good thing. It’s a popular link on our website. We are working with the coastal coalition to get it back and running,” Byrne said.

Quirk joined with Sea Isle officials during a news conference in 2019 to announce what they dubbed the “Flood Cam.” Quirk said the camera has been reliable over the past six years.

“It’s my guess that it’s worked 99 percent of the time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t available during the storm,” he said of the Columbus Day weekend nor’easter on Oct. 12-13.

The livestream broadcast in Sea Isle was part of a pilot program that may eventually include more flood cameras in other Jersey Shore towns that are members of the coastal coalition.

The coalition began with 21 communities that joined together in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 to look for new ways to protect homeowners from flooding.

The organization has since grown to 38 member communities in Atlantic, Cape May, Cumberland, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean counties. Sea Isle was selected as the location for the first flood camera because of its strong support for the coalition over the years. The camera was paid for by a $5,000 donation to the coalition by OceanFirst Bank.

    When operating normally, the webcam helps to warn of floodwaters in Sea Isle City in real time.