LBI Beach Replenishment Set to Begin This Month

Harvey Cedars, Brant Beach and Surf City to get emergency repairs; about 1,000 feet of beach will be closed at a time.

Work to repair ocean beaches and dunes in three Long Beach Island communities will begin before the end of May, officials have confirmed. A $30.6 million replenishment project to restore sand in Harvey Cedars, Brant Beach and Surf City is due to begin within the next two weeks and continue into the fall. The Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company will pump 3 million cubic yards of sand to rebuild engineered beaches in the three island communities that were affected by Superstorm Sandy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement this week. The island's strong dunes are credited with preventing the type of ocean breach that occurred during Sandy in Mantoloking, which split Ocean County's northern barrier island in two and destroyed …

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Fishing Friday

Local Anglers Finding Striped Bass

Both the party boat crowd and shore-based locals getting in on the action

As local anglers try their collective hands at spring fishing after a tough winter all around, the striped bass seem to be cooperating as water temperatures slowly rise. Starting in the northern reaches of this column's publication area, the crew of the Big Mohawk out of Belmar finished their blackfish season this week and decided to dabble in the bass fishery on Tuesday. The result: everyone on board got their limit of stripers. "I know that is what so many of you have been waiting to hear," Capt. Chris wrote on the boat's website. The boat, which sails 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, had a similarly good day Thursday after taking Wednesday off. Few reports came in from the suds in the Manasquan and Point Pleasant areas, but anecdotally, anglers …

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Surf City Adopts Flood Maps, Waits to Hear on Grant Funding

Advisory flood maps place the entire borough in 'A' and 'V' zones

The Surf City borough council adopted the Federal Emergency Management Agency's advisory base flood elevation (ABFE) maps April 10 on second reading, the final passage of an ordinance that mirrors the state's adoption of the same maps. The maps, which can be found online, were released in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, though they were in the works long before the storm struck the Jersey Shore. Though controversial statewide, no members of the public commented during a required hearing before adoption. Adopting the maps has been a necessity for most of New Jersey's coastal communities, especially since the state as a whole adopted them as part of an administrative rule. The map adoption also ensures that Surf City residents are …

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Heavy Surf Lashes LBI As Flooding Begins

VIDEO: Bay whipped up by nor'easter, ocean roars

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VIDEO: On LBI, Waves, Wind But Little Flooding From Nor'Easter

Heavy rain causes big puddles, but little in the way of tidal flooding on LBI

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Two-Car Collision At LBI Circle

One vehicle spun around and into telephone pole.

The driver of a Dodge Ram pickup and the driver of silver Toyota collided yesterday morning, spinning the car into a telephone pole in Ship Bottom yesterday. Police from Ship Bottom, Long Beach Township and Harvey Cedars, as well as units from the Beach Haven First Squad responded to the two-vehicle accident, which took place at Barnegat Avenue and 9th Street around 11:30 a.m. The collision is one of several in recent months reported near this intersection.  Patch will update this story as more details become available. 

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Weekend Events Raise Funds and Spirits

Lights, music, benefits bring some much needed holiday spirit to Long Beach Island.

Nobody at the Dutchman's Brauhas was sure the story that launched the restaurant’s Habitat for Humanity fundraisers to aid Sandy victims is actually true. The story is of a Beach Haven West couple in their nineties who were supposedly found inside their home with the wife sitting on a chair on top of the kitchen table while her husband held the table down to prevent it from floating away during the storm’s peak. "We still have not found them, so we are not sure whether they are real or our own urban myth. But we did know a lot of people needed help after Sandy," said David Schmid, one of the four brothers and co-owners of the Dutchman’s.                                    The brothers, David, Bob, Bill and Rick, went on to raise more than…

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Hurricane Sandy

Volunteers - Local and Nationwide - Rally To Aid Sandy's Victims

People from Maine to Hawaii and all points in between join with local volunteers to restore the shore.

Even before Sandy’s first gusts reached our shores, volunteers from the entire United States were on their way to southern Ocean County and all East Coast areas soon to be devastated. Many of them are still here or have rotated out to be replaced by others from their organizations. Members of the Fraternal Order of Police had arrived from as far away as Missouri and Louisiana at the Long Beach Township Municipal Complex. They set up a kitchen and for the next two weeks as the building served as the command center for LBI’s Emergency Management Operations and the National Guard, they fed the police, first responders, National Guard and EOC personnel. As the storm passed, more FOP members fanned out with cleaning supplies, equipment and …

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Hurricane Sandy

LBI OPENED: Photo Gallery: Ship Bottom to South Beach Haven

Clean-up and restoration with a dose of humor all go hand in hand as Long Beach Island recovers from Sandy.

  Long Beach Island residents - except those from Holgate - returned to their homes Saturday morning, beginning at 6 a.m. During a Friday afternoon news conference in Seaside Heights on Friday, Governor Christie announced that the Route 72 causeway bridge will be open. Christie said the state will allow residents controlled access to assess damage, retrieve belongings and permit repopulation of the island for residents whose homes are safe and habitable. Here is a short photo tour before Saturday's reopening.  People should procede with caution as there is still a lot of work going on and dangerous conditions in many areas.

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Hurricane Sandy

PHOTOS: What Sandy Did to Long Beach Island

Businesses decimated, roads covered in sand and homes in shambles were all on display.

A group of journalists climbed aboard a National Guard truck to tour LBI from Holgate to Barnegat Light today. Here is little of what they saw. For more photos from my trip to LBI on Saturday to Brant Beach to Surf City see this earlier story. long-beach-island-making-strides-forward.

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