By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
After making the two-hour drive to Sea Isle City from her home in Bechtelsville, Pa., Casey Schmoyer discovered something that was a complete surprise: Some of the pathways to the beach were blocked off by red and yellow “Caution” tape.
“I thought, ‘Great, we drove all the way here and now we can’t get on the beaches,’” Schmoyer said.
Schmoyer, her 3-year-old son, Clay, her mother, Barbara Schmoyer, and the family dog, Rogie, were able to find a way to the beach Friday, but it was not the same pristine beach they normally enjoy during their trips to Sea Isle.
The remnants of Hurricane Ian and the nasty nor’easter that stalled along the coast for three days this week packed a one-two punch that caused significant erosion to Sea Isle’s beaches, pathways and dunes.
Mayor Leonard Desiderio and other Sea Isle officials took a tour of the beaches Friday to get a close-up look at the storm damage. Desiderio said he was happy to see that the dune system did its job by protecting homes and businesses along the entire length of the island.
“Unfortunately, we did have some beach erosion; but overall our beaches are not nearly as bad as we initially feared,” he said in a statement. “There are, however, some areas where the dunes were damaged and the beach entrances were cut off, which resulted in some dunes having cliff-like faces on their eastern sides.”
Desiderio noted that the beaches in the city’s north end remain in good shape as well as those near the inlet that Sea Isle shares with Avalon in the south part of town.
“However, the beaches and dunes around JFK Boulevard and numerous stretches in the south end of town, particularly between 85th and 92nd streets, did lose a good amount of sand,” he said.
Perhaps most visually striking were steep mini-cliffs that were created when the raging ocean sheared away the face of a stretch of dunes between 88th and 92nd streets in the Townsends Inlet section of town. Some of the drop-offs appeared to be close to 15 to 20 feet high.
Casey Schmoyer, who brought her family to the JFK Boulevard beach, was amazed by the large pools of water that had formed in the sand following the storm. The normally deep, powdery sand that forms the top layer of the beach appeared stripped away on some of the beaches near JFK Boulevard.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen pools of water so far inland like this,” Schmoyer said.
Although they had to navigate their way around some of the closed pathways, once they got on the beach, the Schmoyers were able to enjoy a gorgeous, sunny day with temperatures in the mid-70s.
“I figured this was going to be the last day of the year with sunny weather,” Casey Schmoyer said of her decision to bring her family to the shore for a day trip.
In the meantime, Sea Isle has blocked access to the damaged beach entrances and pathways throughout the island. Desiderio urged the public to keep a safe distance from any eroded dunes or pathways, noting that the sand there may be unstable and could collapse.
“Unstable sand is nothing to fool with, because sand is extremely heavy and can shift when you least expect it. We need everyone’s cooperation on this matter, because we want to keep everyone safe,” he said.
Desiderio said the public may still enjoy the beaches, but urged beachgoers to use only the entrances that are open and safe.
On Friday, Sea Isle’s Public Works Department crews were using earthmovers to level off some of the damaged beach pathways. They were also removing sand and debris from the beach mats that are used to cross over the dunes at the beach entrances. Some of the mats were buried in sand.
Desiderio said Sea Isle has already been in contact with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to address the beach and dune erosion.
“(Sea Isle) will continue to work with them to ensure that our shoreline remains strong,” he said.
In 2023, Sea Isle, Strathmere and the south end of Ocean City will be part of an estimated $30 million project to replenish the beaches with new sand. The contract for that project still must be awarded, so it is not yet known when the project will start and be completed.
