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Some residents are comparing this weekend’s nor’easter to 2012’s Superstorm Sandy as it flooded beach communities up and down the New Jersey coast.
The wind and rain combined with high tides to swell the bays and push ocean water up and over the beaches and dunes, leaving major erosion and flooding in its wake.
“This driveway never floods,” said Dave Muscarella in North Wildwood. “It came up about 6 to 8 inches onto the house. We’ve been here 25 years. It was second to Sandy.”
Robin Shafer of Ocean City says conditions were at their worst Saturday morning.
“It was like living in Venice, Italy, for periods of time,” he said. “The water came up and it came up very quickly, much much faster than I would expect.”
Shafer saw about 3 feet of water flood under the boardwalk and onto his street.
“When I looked out, all I could see where the street was and where the sidewalks were was water, a lot of windblown water,” he said.
The high water caused plenty of problems for residents and visitors trying to navigate flooded streets. With his house surrounded by water, Shaffer came up with a unique solution to help his dog Daisy when she needed to take care of business.
“There was so much water surrounding my house that I had to literally get the kayak out to bring the dog, a little Corgi mix, just to get her over to dry land where she could do what dogs do.”
Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano said the town’s extended beaches even had standing water on them right near the boardwalk.
“Water literally broke the berm, the waves broke the berm,” he said. “We had about a foot to 2 feet of water, standing water on the beach, up to the boardwalk. That will eventually drain out and our beaches will be good.”
