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.