Nor'easter batters New Jersey shore town raising concerns about ongoing beach erosion

PHILADELPHIA - The New Jersey coast was hammered by a powerful nor'easter that battered beaches dealing with erosion issues that have undergone multi-million dollar replenishment projects. 

Ocean City recently wrapped up a $24.5M project that added over a million cubic yards of sand to the beach from 14th street to Seaview Avenue. Locals believe this week's storm that brought everything from tropical storm force winds to rain and snow to areas along mid-Atlantic coast wreaked havoc on the recently finished project. 

"All of that sand hasn't really set yet, so it just gets wiped away when we get bigger storms," said local surfer Cooper Lysinger, who enjoyed the large swells produced by the late-winter noreaster. "It was the craziest thing I've seen in a long time." 

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Kimberly McKenna, from Stockton University's Coastal Research Center, says higher global temperatures bring higher tides. And while big storms churning sand isn't uncommon for this time of year, it's not desirable for shore towns to constantly require beach replenishment work. 

"When they design those beach fills, they add that into their design – these brief storms, there minor storms, this passage of low pressure systems," McKenna said. "So they tend to put more sand in areas such as northern Ocean City – that area from 6th Street to about 20th – where you see more damage is, because it's influenced by the inlets."

McKenna called Ocean City a dynamic island of beachfront property that's always influx since it's separated by two inlets. Meanwhile, municipal efforts are being placed on monitoring and resisting the offshore wind farms that are planned for about 15 miles offshore.