By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Thankfully, it wasn’t another Hurricane Sandy.
Coinciding with the ninth anniversary of the ferocious hurricane that devastated parts of the Jersey Shore, a far more benign storm unleashed heavy winds and moderate flooding in Sea Isle City on Friday, but there were no reports of major damage.
“I’ll take this over Sandy,” Sea Isle Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Jargowsky said in relief.
Jargowsky found it ironic that another storm lashed the coast on the anniversary of Sandy, a hurricane that made landfall in New Jersey on Oct. 29, 2012. In Sandy’s wake, an estimated 70,000 homes were damaged or destroyed, 40 people were killed and large areas of the state were left underwater by flooding.
Fortunately, Friday’s storm was nowhere near as powerful as Sandy, although blocks of Landis Avenue, Central Avenue and other roads throughout Sea Isle were swamped by flooding that began with high tide at around 3:30 p.m.
Sustained winds hovered around 20 to 30 mph, with gusts expected to hit 50 or 60 mph, according to the forecast. Jargowsky noted that winds of that strength are capable of snapping tree limbs, bringing down power lines or blowing around loose patio furniture.
The city’s decorative palm trees lining the John F. Kennedy Boulevard entryway were whipped by the high winds. The “Pay Meter Here” signs for the parking kiosks were twisting wildly in the gusts.
Traffic lights were temporarily disabled at JFK Boulevard and the intersection of JFK and Central Avenue due to high winds, but power was restored at around 8 p.m., Sea Isle police reported. Conditions were made worse by low visibility and flying debris throughout town, police said.
Intermittent bands of wind-driven rain were another element of the storm. However, the rainfall totals were not expected to be as heavy as originally predicted.
Jargowsky noted it was fortunate that drenching rains did not happen during high tide, which could have made flooding even worse throughout Sea Isle.
During a break in the rain Friday afternoon, visitors Stan and Jackie Lukity, of Zionsville, Pa., were watching the white-capped waves from the stormy ocean. They were fascinated by the power of the storm.
“I wanted to come here to see it. I’ve never seen anything like this before except on the news. It is fabulous,” Jackie Lukity said.
As she spoke, stinging beach sand was blowing around like a windstorm in the desert. The rough surf kicked up gobs of frothy white and brownish foam that covered parts of the beach and dunes.
The Lukitys have been married for 56 years. When asked what he thought when his wife suggested that they venture outside in the middle of the storm, Stan Lukity smiled and wryly responded, “I didn’t have a choice.”
Out on Landis Avenue, John Stearne was jumping over the floodwaters that ran along the gutters and street while heading to his SUV.
Stearne had been visiting with his 84-year-old mother, Mary Stearne, who lives at the Seamark condominiums at Landis Avenue and 34th Street, and was anxious to head back to his home in Cherry Hill before the storm got worse.
“This is normal. It floods like crazy here,” Stearne said of the flooding that typically occurs along Landis Avenue in the downtown business district.
As he prepared to hop in his SUV for the trip back to Cherry Hill, Stearne glanced at the gray clouds that were looming overhead Friday afternoon.
“I don’t know how bad it’s going to be,” he said of the storm.
In this case, it wasn’t nearly as bad as nine years ago when Sandy struck the shore.
