Unusual Flooding After Latest Nor'easter Has Officials, Residents Uneasy

Something's not right.

Several days after the latest storm, the tidal marshlands in the Glen Cove and Good Luck Point sections of Bayville are still flooded, even though the latest Nor'easter had already moved on.

"There's been no wind and the tides have been right up to the top of the bulkheads," Township Council President James J. Byrnes said. "The catch basins are overflowing. There's got to be a way we can eliminate some of this. It's got to be addressed."

The unusual flooding has many concerned.

Robert Kaiser, who lives on Clew Court, told the Township Council last night that he has had to have the brakes repaired on the family cars twice in the last few weeks.

"You know what's killing your brakes?" Kaiser said his mechanic told him. "The salt water."

"In 14 years of living here I never had water on our street," he said.

Why is it taking the water so long to go down? It's a question many have been asking since Superstorm Sandy slammed into Ocean County on Oct. 29.

There is no one answer.

The relatively shallow Barnegat Bay is full of pieces of homes, cars, people's lives and sand that poured in from breaches on the barrier island during Sandy's storm surge.

Storm drains are clogged with muck. What dunes are left are smaller and weaker than they were before Sandy. "Road Closed" signs and neon-orange barriers are a familiar sight on Bayview Avenue.

Township officials expect to have additional snow fencing and dune grass delivered by Friday, to bulk up oceanfront areas "as a stopgap measure until we get the Army Corps of Engineers on board," Mayor Carmen F. Amato Jr. said.

"Strengthening the dune system is going to protect our residents," he said.

Cleaning up waterways affected by Sandy will be a joint effort between the state and the Army Corps of Engineers, Ocean County Administrator Carl W. Block has said.

The Army Corps will handle the main channels and the Intercoastal Waterway.The state has assumed "full responsibility" for cleaning up up debris in bays, tidal rivers and lagoons, Block has said.

The target is to have 75 percent of the debris out by June," he said at a recent meeting of the Ocean County Board of Freeholders. "While it's an ambitious target, they are trying to make sure there's a summer season."

Once the larger items have been located and removed, the bay will be dredged to remove sand that has shoaled in places it doesn't belong and hinders navigation, Block has said.

"I can't believe something sunk in the bay is raising the water that much," said Byrnes, who lost his Dogwood Drive home when Sandy hit. "It's brutal."

Both Byrnes and Amato have said the state needs to beef up the dunes in the northern end of Island Beach State Park, rather than leaving sections as habitats for piping plovers.

Kaiser also said he had seen shingles flying through his neighborhood into the lagoons, as crews ripped off Sandy-damaged roofs.

"We had 30 mile an hour winds," he said. "It's all going in the lagoons."

Kaiser said he had called the construction office to report the problem. The phone went dead and he couldn't get through, he said.

"Here's your new hotline," Amato said, and handed Kaiser a piece of paper with his cell phone number. "Don't call Town Hall anymore. You call me."

as crews worked