The mayor of a Jersey Shore community says that he is worried that an approaching nor’easter will destroy what is left of the beach in his town.
Sub-tropical storm Melissa ate away at many of New Jersey’s beaches last week. And Bay Head Mayor Bill Curtis says that he is afraid Wednesday’s storm will do the same.
“My fear is there will be no beach to sit on this summer,” he says.
Bay Head lost a lot of the sand on the newly replenished beach last week.
“Since last week we've lost probably 50 feet of beach. What's even more telling, if you pan down the beach, our groins are exposed. That's 30 feet in depth that we've lost, that's incredible,” Curtis says.
A groin is a structure built into the ocean to interrupt the water flow and limit the movement of sediment. They are used to prevent the beaches from being washed away.
Wednesday’s storm is expected to bring winds of around 50 mph, along with large swells. Storms like this become more common as winter approaches. Curtis says that with no beach left in Bay Head, he fears that the dune fences are now threatened.
“Look at where it is right now, and there's no beach to protect it,” the mayor says. “I think we'll lose a lot more fence.”
The good news is that there is a large reserve of sand just offshore. The sand could help replenish some of what has been lost or it could drift north to Manasquan and Point Pleasant.
It wasn't only Bay Head that lost significant amounts of the beach from last week's storm. Several beaches in Cape May County lost between 10 and 20 feet of sand.