{"id":49027,"date":"2017-10-27T04:43:37","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T04:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=49027"},"modified":"2017-10-27T04:43:37","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T04:43:37","slug":"new-jersey-sand-dune-project-may-be-last-defense-against-another-sandy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/new-jersey-sand-dune-project-may-be-last-defense-against-another-sandy.html","title":{"rendered":"New Jersey sand dune project may be last defense against another Sandy"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Jersey sand dune project may be last defense against another Sandy<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Mud-colored steel pipes, as wide as three basketballs, snake along a barren section of beach in the New Jersey coastal town of Mantoloking.<\/span><\/p>\n

They are the Jersey Shore\u2019s newest attraction \u2014 and its last hope against the next Hurricane Sandy.<\/span><\/p>\n

For nearly 24 hours a day, the pipes spew a steady stream of sand onto the shoreline, pumping it in from a dredging ship that sits more than two miles offshore.<\/span><\/p>\n

The operation, launched earlier this month, is part of a long-awaited \u2014 and still-divisive \u2014 plan to bolster the coastline with supersized dunes and wider beaches.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives me hope,\u201d says beachgoer Darlene Barley, as she wanders along the coast on a recent October afternoon to catch a glimpse of the pipes and heavy machinery. \u201cBut will it survive another major nor\u2019easter or hurricane? Who knows?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Army Corps of Engineers project represents progress, but it also epitomizes the lingering fear that pervades this idyllic, 14-mile stretch of coastline five years after it was walloped by Sandy.<\/span><\/p>\n

A total of 34 people died in the storm in New Jersey, and more than 350,000 homes sustained damage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dozens of mansions in Mantoloking were decimated as the sea swallowed up the town on the barrier island and carved an east-west trench that connected the ocean to the bay.<\/span><\/p>\n

The storm reduced the Seaside Heights boardwalk, one of the area\u2019s economic engines, to a pile of waterlogged sticks and tossed the iconic Jet Star roller coaster into the sea, making it more symbolic in death than it ever was in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps nowhere suffered more devastation than Ortley Beach, where all but 60 of the 2,600 homes were damaged and 200 were destroyed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Daily News has chronicled the plight of one of Ortley\u2019s hardest-hit streets, Coolidge Ave., where only eight of 32 homes were rebuilt on the second anniversary of the storm.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, all but two of the lots contain new houses, many of them lifted 10 feet into the air.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThank God we\u2019re back in, because it was a disaster,\u201d said resident Josephine Lisica, 74, who borrowed money from her daughter to rebuild her house. The block, like many across the area, looks nothing like it did before Sandy. Gone are the quaint bungalows. In their place stand massive three- and four-story homes, some of them with boxy concrete foundations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe character \u2014 it\u2019s gone,\u201d Lisica said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bill Mullen, 67, moved into his new home in March 2016. To pay for the two-story, 1,200-square-foot house, he was forced to pull $50,000 out of his savings to supplement the $150,000 federal grant he received. \u201cIt was an expensive hurricane,\u201d quipped Mullen, a retired social worker.<\/span><\/p>\n

He rode out the storm at a friend\u2019s place, only to return home to discover the house his parents built in the 1950s had taken up residence nearly two blocks away. \u201cI\u2019m lucky,\u201d Mullen said. \u201cLucky to be alive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jersey Shore\u2019s resurgence isn\u2019t seen only on Coolidge Ave.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Sandy, the humble community of Vision Beach looked like it was struck by aerial bombs. Now, it\u2019s home to handsome houses that command prices well above $600,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the difference \u2014 it\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d said resident Ray Zipfel, 59. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of a shame that it takes a tragedy like this, but it washes away all the old and now you have all brand-new.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Along the boardwalk in Seaside Heights and Seaside Park, all but 30 of the 170 businesses stricken by the storm \u2014 and a subsequent massive fire \u2014 were back in operation this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all good for us, and looking better every day,\u201d said Mike Loundy, the area\u2019s director of community improvements.<\/span><\/p>\n

The $128 million Army Corps dredging project is designed to keep it that way.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dredges will pump 11 million cubic yards of sand along the coastline, from the southern part of Point Pleasant Beach to Island Beach State Park.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new and improved beaches, expected to be completed by the end of next year, will stretch up to 300 feet wide and feature dunes that top 22 feet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the residents in the area\u2019s vulnerable communities have been clamoring for the sandy bunker system.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not everyone feels that way, though.<\/span><\/p>\n

It took until this year for the project to get underway because of a pitched legal battle, sparked by beachfront homeowners in Bay Head and Mantoloking. They already have a 22-foot rock wall in place, and they want nothing to do with the mighty dunes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a waste of money that will wash away as the sand washes away,\u201d said Bay Head resident Thatcher Brown.<\/span><\/p>\n

James Bradley, 66, sees it differently. He lives in a section of Point Pleasant just outside the zone of the Army Corps project.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great thing for those who are getting it, but what about people like us?\u201d said Bradley, a railroad engineer. \u201cI crap my pants every time we get a nor\u2019easter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Patrick Burke, 34, a surfer and former lifeguard who grew up in the area, isn\u2019t sold on the dune project. On a sunny afternoon, he stood on a wooden walkway a few blocks from the site and stared at the new patch of beach jutting out into the sea.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care if you build it a hundred feet high and a thousand feet long,\u201d he said. \u201cA strong nor\u2019easter is still going to cut through it like a hot knife through butter.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0http:\/\/www.nydailynews.com\/news\/national\/n-sand-dune-project-defense-sandy-article-1.3591874<\/span><\/p>\n

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