Jose passes Jersey Shore, leaving flooding and eroded beaches

As Jose weakened to a tropical storm off New England on Wednesday, it continued to churn and create rip currents along the New Jersey coast, where relentless high surf and wind-driven currents eroded beaches and sliced through dunes like a sharp knife.

"These waves were some of the biggest I've ever seen," North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello said Wednesday. "The beach around Third Street is a mess."

While North Wildwood may have taken the brunt of the storm, elsewhere along the Jersey Shore — from Long Beach Island, to Margate, to Ocean City, to Cape May — officials began Wednesday afternoon surveying the damage brought by Jose.  Some of the erosion was evident as early as Tuesday afternoon.  And it could get worse.

The National Weather Service issued coastal flood warnings and advisories for the Shore, and warned of dangerous rip currents along the beaches. The storm will probably continue to spin along the East Coast for several days, according to forecasters.

As sunshine finally began to peek through some lingering clouds at the Shore on Wednesday, officials said they were noticing  Jose's lashing winds and rough waves had created 6-foot-tall cliffs in the dunes in some spots and also denuded beaches of sand in others — even places with recent beach-replenishment projects.

Though it created no major issues, minor coastal flooding covered streets and roads in low-lying areas, such as the Route 30 causeway between Atlantic City and Absecon, during the Wednesday morning and evening high tides, officials said.  In Wildwood, police reported Wednesday morning that the Route 47 George Redding Bridge and surrounding roads were closed due to flooding.  More flooding, though less severe, was expected there during high tide Wednesday night.

A photo posted on Twitter by the North Wildwood Police Department illustrated the force of the waves.

While ongoing issues likely were exacerbated by the storm along the beachfront in Margate — officials there are awaiting design changes by the Army Corps of Engineers to redirect water that is accumulating between new dunes and a protective bulkhead — North Wildwood probably received the worst of Jose in New Jersey.

"The ocean swells from Jose really were the worst we've seen in a generation," said North Wildwood's Rosenello.

Rosenello said this storm was so bad — even worse on some of North Wildwood's beachfront than the impact of Sandy — that it chewed away nearly the entire dune line along the beach at Third Street. The area, along the northern stretch of beachfront near Townsend's Inlet, isn't protected by the town's sea wall, which was constructed 11 years ago and has been particularly battered in four major storms since Sandy.

"It's interesting because every storm really has its own personality in terms of how it impacts the beaches," Rosenello said. "With this one, we experienced the biggest waves I've ever seen here."

Another high tide Wednesday evening was expected to impact the same spot, and Rosenello said that after that, crews will immediately begin moving sand to replenish the dune. Boulders will also be brought in and preliminary work will begin to extend the sea wall for about two blocks in that area. The project is expected to cost around $2 million.

Jose was no walk in the park for Margate either. There, officials said a pipe installed by the Army Corps as a quick fix to remove rainwater accumulating along nearly the town's entire beachfront had back-filled during the storm and had actually pumped ocean water into the "ponds."

"What we have now is a saltwater pond instead of a freshwater pond on the beach," said Richard Deaney, Margate's business administrator Wednesday.  "This storm has made a bad problem worse for our town."

"It's scary … and very unfair," said Marie D'Agostino, a Margate resident who came to the beachfront to survey Jose's work. "It just keeps getting worse for us."