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Initial Reports: Damage on LBI Minor

Causeway, Garden State Parkway southbound reopened to traffic

 

Damage on Long Beach Island from Hurricane Irene appears to have been minor compared with the havoc wreaked by flooding and destructive winds in other Shore communities over the weekend. 

A quick survey after the Route 72 causeway was reopened at 2:30 p.m. Sunday revealed the south end of the island took a heavier beating than the area north of the causeway.

The entrance ramp at Holgate at the southernmost tip of LBI has been destroyed, and debris is piled up near the parking lot at the gateway to the protected area.

There is some wind damage to homes south of the causeway, and some traffic lights are out on the island.

But on the north end, there's little sign that a hurricane passed through at all. The beach in Loveladies shows little evidence of erosion, and while there is some sand at the end of a few ocean streets, roadways are free of debris and there appears to be no major damage to buildings from wind or water.

Other roads in south Jersey besides the causeway have been reopened to cars following the storm.

According to the state Department of Transportation, southbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway south of Exit 98 at Interstate 195 had been reopened as of 3 p.m., though there are flood-related detours between Exits 98 and 91.

The eastbound lanes of the Atlantic City Expressway at Pleasantville will be reopened later this afternoon.

Related Topics: LBI Causeway Reopened, LBI Hurricane Irene, and Route 72 Causeway
Do you live on LBI? What are you seeing on your return? Tell us in the comments.

Graelyn Brashear

4:07 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011

Residents and business owners should have a re-entry hangtag. At this point, though, they're not checking. Everybody's free to go over.

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Beezy Schug

5:36 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011

Is there any power outages, particularly Harvey Cedars area?

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ronnie

8:11 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011

Is there power in North Beach??

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Alice

8:19 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011

My neighbor who stayed in HC said they didn't lose power.

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Graelyn Brashear

8:26 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011

It seems like there were spotty outages in different parts of the island. A colleague said he returned to his house in Surf City to find all the clocks telling the correct time – so no outage there. Remarkable, really.

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Jim Titus

9:32 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011

The pictures at Joey's Pizza in Beach Haven Crest show a fairly typical level of flooding, presumably because the bay had retreated by the time you were allowed onto the island. Can you say roughly how much higher the bay had been than shown in those pictures?

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Graelyn Brashear

9:54 pm on Sunday, August 28, 2011

It's really tough to tell – none of us here at Patch were on the island during the storm, but I'd guess based on the washout at the south end that the rain, high tides and storm surge came together to create flooding a good couple of feet above what's typical for a bad rainstorm at high tide. That's a guess, though. We're hoping we can track down somebody who stuck it out and can give us a first-person account.

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