Addressing the Fox News Report Regarding The “Lost” Sand
Addressing the Fox News Report Regarding The “Lost” Sand
This morning and afternoon we have been getting hammered with questions about how bad last night’s storm was.
Throughout the night we were nailed with some crazy winds and a high tide which caused some flooding on the island. This past Saturday was a full moon which created a higher high tide than normal.
If you were signed up for the messages from the NWOEM (Message from Emergency Management Coordinator), we got hit with three notifications about the flooding.
As with any storms that hit our area there is always some beach erosion. Spring Nor’easters are known to due that in our area.
Sand Piles from Saturday, April 16th
Right now, and almost every year around this time, the city of North Wildwood works on a beach replenishment project which sees thousands of cubic sand brought over from the city of Wildwood.
We have been updating you on the progress of this project in our Monthly Wildwoods Construction Update.
In order to do these projects, the crew trucks in the sand from Wildwood and lays them in massive piles.
These sand piles, which can reach as high as 62 feet, are then pushed forward towards the ocean which then raises the height of the beach.
This adds a big protection to the houses and hotels right on JFK Blvd.
Now for why you are here.
This morning FOX news in Philadelphia did a report about missing sand and how high the drop-off was from the top of the ‘dunes.’
Many people were led to believe that the ocean ripped off 30 feet/height of sand creating this drop-off.
Just to clarify what happened.
Since the sand had not been pushed over yes, which will start in a few weeks, these sand piles were sitting at 45 feet (as messages when we were there on Saturday).
Last night’s storm did take a bit of the front of the pile, which it is designed to, but did not create that massive drop.
The beach seems to have lost some sand but that will be replaced within the next few truckloads of sand.
The city will evaluate how the plan should move going forward.
The videos showing the Bulkhead exposed are a bit misleading because those have been that way all winter long. There were some sand piles there but they hadn’t been pushed over yet.
So to recap, some sand was lost but not at the dramatic rate that was reported this morning.
Check out these other Wildwood videos and articles.
