Wind blows away a block of beach in Brick Township. Here's what's happening.

In Brick Township, 8th Avenue beach is now off limits because -- it's no longer there – and it all happened without a storm.

News 12 Staff

Jul 28, 2022, 11:38 AM

Updated 849 days ago

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In Brick Township, 8th Avenue beach is now off limits because -- it's no longer there – and it all happened without a storm.
Usually, erosion like this follows a nor’easter or tropical system. This time, retired meteorologist and coastal storm expert Jim Eberwine says it's because of a persistent southerly wind that began mid-July and continued for days. Not only is it making for colder than normal water temperatures, but it’s also carving away the beaches.  
“First, you have the wind coming in and the wind creates current. And look how strong that current is - it's impacting the shore, and if you look at it, it goes from south to north, and it just carries the sand out into the ocean, into the sand bars,” says Eberwine.
It's not just in Brick -- pockets of erosion impact beaches all the way to Island Beach State Park. A sand cliff several feet high formed in South Seaside Park, shortening the beach substantially.  
Following the Mother's Day weekend storm, Ortley Beach lost a big chunk of sand. Toms River Township spent more than $200,000 trucking in new sand in time for the summer -- that continues to hold despite problem areas north and south.
Eberwine says it’s also making the areas especially vulnerable to further erosion if a tropical storm or hurricane move offshore. Summer is when beaches are supposed to build, and clearly that's not happening in some spots.