Coastal flooding a concern as storm moves up coast

November 13, 2009

Anonymous The San Marcos Record Fri Nov 13, 2009, 08:52 AM CST

Atlantic City, N.J. — Remnants of Tropical Storm Ida pounded the East Coast on Friday, flooding coastal areas in New Jersey after slamming the Carolinas and Virginia.

Strong wind and waves were causing severe beach erosion along the New Jersey shore, but the rain was not as heavy as predicted which could help ease the flooding.

Many streets were under water in Cape May County, which was under a state of emergency. Although officials suggested voluntary evacuations of low-lying areas late Thursday, there was no word of any mandatory evacuations. But officials were unable to deliver meals to elderly shut-ins Friday due to the flooding.

"It's a big nor'easter," said Joe Duska, a 66-year-old retiree who was photographing 15-foot-tall waves that were smashing against an inlet rock jetty in Manasquan. "I don't think I've seen one this bad in quite a few years."

Duska said he drove up and down the central New Jersey coastline a few days ago and looked at beaches, knowing a storm was coming, hoping to compare them to what would be left after the storm.

"The beaches are smaller already," he said. "You can see it."

Farther south, on Long Beach Island, the angry surf was chewing up what was left of already narrow beaches and some protective sand dunes in Harvey Cedars, which is hoping to start a beach replenishment project soon after a years-long battle with oceanfront property owners over access to their land.

Traffic was backed up over a mile on the Atlantic City Expressway because flooding closed other major highways into the gambling resort.

Dominion Power reported that more than 155,000 customers remained without electricity early Friday in Virginia and parts of North Carolina. All but about 10,000 of those customers were in southeast Virginia. Hundreds of roads were closed in Virginia.

The storm forced more than a dozen schools in southern New Jersey not to open or delay opening. Schools in southern Delaware, Worcester County, Md., and Accomack County, Va., also were closed.

School buses and SUVs in Freeport, N.Y., on Long Island's south shore, had to navigate streets with knee-high water.

The storm has been blamed for five deaths across three states. The Coast Guard halted the search for three missing New Jersey fishermen whose boat sank in rough seas Wednesday night.

Officials in Norfolk, Va., were waiting to assess damage once flood waters recede after nearly 8 inches of rain drenched the coastal city and major port.

Health officials closed all tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia to shellfish harvesting because of the potential of contamination from the nor'easter. The ban does not include crabs or fish.

Three motorists died in weather-related crashes in central and eastern Virginia. In New York City, a 36-year-old surfer died after getting caught in pounding surf churned up by the storm. In North Carolina, an elderly man standing in his yard was killed when a pine tree was snapped off by strong wind and fell on him.

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