Wind, Waves Cause Some Beach Erosion at New Jersey Shore

The high tides and strong winds that lashed the New Jersey shore over the weekend took a piece of it with them.

Conditions that pummeled the beaches from Thursday through Sunday morning caused beach erosion that varied in severity along the coast.

Some beaches lost comparatively little sand while others saw large cliffs gouged into the side of what had been large beach berms during the summer.

Stewart Farrell, a beach expert with Stockton University, says virtually all the state's ocean beaches are flatter as a result of the wind and waves.

"All the beaches have lost their summer berms," he said. "Sand was shifted seaward into about 10 feet of water. These deposits will form offshore bars in a few weeks."

At least some of that sand is expected to be returned to the shoreline over the winter by wave action.

Farrell, director of Stockton's Coastal Research Center, said the northeast part of every barrier island in the state except Long Beach Island "took a hit of significant scale."

He said erosion was particularly bad in North Wildwood, Strathmere and the northern end of Atlantic City's beach, which was already eroded from previous storms.

Point Pleasant Beach, one of the shore towns that most recently underwent beach replenishment, still had a vast, wide beach Monday, although a stormwater outfall pipe that had been completely covered with sand in mid-September was now jutting out into the water.

Brick Township's ocean beaches, which had been completely covered by surf that reached the foot of the pedestrian walkway, also remained in good shape Monday.

Farrell said Cape May was in the midst of a touch-up beach replenishment project at its northern end, and thus fared better during the days of wind and waves generated in part by a storm that passed by out to sea.