Submitted by Vortmax on 2012/11/02 at 12:40 pm..
Not sure how the seawall was “breached.” The ocean simply came in where the seawall ended on both ends…north of 14th st. and south of 10th st north.
Another interesting observation. In looking at the NOAA photorecon photos, the dunes held up fairly well. Seawater got into some areas via the rampways to the beach/dune cuts. The dunes themselves, while battered, saved Brigantine. City officials should give consideration to CLOSING OFF the dune cuts and redoing rampways to the beach. Put them at an angle to the beach, eventually gettting to the beach and most importantly put them OVER the dunes, not through a dune cut.
Although more expensive, some consideration should be given to extending the sea wall around the houses north of 14th steet north, perhaps to the beach access road. This extenstion doesn’t have to be like the main sea wall, but could be some sort of low cost material to prevent a future wash around.
Finally, city should quickly shore up the wash around areas and any dune cuts due to a possible Nor’easter next week.
Subscribe BrigantineNOW
The entrance to 5 th street north has its small dune pushed back into the beach walkway and part of ocean sands cindis first floor bottom unit and street..hoping that they rebuild it cause its only thing that saved the entire first floor Condos from wiping out!
I think that Brigantine Now and citizens there need to press City officials to do everything they can to plug dune gaps now. The European model for late Tuesday into early Thursday is currently showing about 40mph winds with decent rain. That will equate to about 10-15 ft seas nearshore…clearly not a Sandy, but there’s only the dunes to hold water back now as the beach itself is about shot. The American model will come around to the same computer solution in a few days. Can’t be playing around with the dunes here, guys! Make a request for emergency sand and rip-rap NOW to hold the dune line in spots and the washarounds at 14th N and 10th N. You’ll get it–you don’t need much–just press for it. Just enough to plug the holes and wash around. Then let the Corps figure out long-term what the best solution is for the beach. Remember, your dunes are your walls of protection and they need to last all winter until the Corps can figure out the long-term plan AND even then they will have more pressing issues at Seaside and points up that way where there are no dunes at all. I fear some of those communities may need to be abandoned. One needs to think about that up there.
Hey, just my uneducated observations from today’s cleanup, but at my place on Heald Rd, I don’t have any sand but the water was roughly 4 to 5 feet up the side of the house. How?What I do have is a ton of silt, mud, a foot of seagrass and bay water in my house. I think the seawall did it’s job, but meanwhile the water came screaming over the little wooden pilings/marina on the bay side.
Richard: The reason for the bayside flooding was the screaming backside windflow around Sandy. Many times we forget that with all the seaside protection, the bayside is quite vulnerable. Inbound baywater comes in from the ocean via southeast to northeast winds. (In other words the surge gets into the bay) Sandy passed, winds switch to a more northwest to west direction and all the baywater has to find a way back out, unfortunately through parts of Brigantine. Silt and mud is more indicative of the bay.
Note to all: I sure hope the city is doing something to quickly strengthen your dunes. The Nor’easter looks to be about a 55mph storm, with hurricane force gusts at sea. 10-15 foot breakers. Should create about a 3 foot surge into the island from the ocean. This should start late Tuesday nite/Wed morning and last into Thursday (several tide cycles), when the winds will switch and cause bayside flooding. (Richard…get ready again, albeit this is not Sandy)
Without Sandy, this would be a moderate Nor’easter. But with the beach the way it is, this should cause more overwash and possible power issues. PLUS there is a threat of snow, especially on the backend of the storm. You guys should get ready. Worse problems north of you given no dunes/protection etc., but this won’t be a picnic for you!