Recent Storm Caused More Erosion to New Jersey Beach

The weekend storm that brought rain and snow to much of New Jersey also caused significant erosion to a Jersey Shore beach that was already in the process of being widened.

Now, federal and state officials are trying to determine whether additional sand needs to be pumped ashore to replace what was washed away.

Work was already well under way on a project to widen beaches in Deal, Allenhurst and Loch Arbour, just north of Asbury Park, when the storm hit.

It caused what James D’Ambrosio, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, termed “moderate” erosion in Deal, where new sand had recently been pumped ashore.

The storm left large drop-offs, known as escarpments, in some spots, but work crews had smoothed them over by Wednesday.

“It is not uncommon for that area to experience (such erosion) during winter storms, D’Ambrosio said. He said the Army Corps and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection “are studying what needs to be done next.”

The DEP studied 81 spots along the shore and found “moderate” erosion at only 5 of them, including Deal, Long Branch, Avalon, North Wildwood and at the Heislerville Dike on the Maurice River.

The area most recently received a beach replenishment project in 2015 and 2016. The work currently under way is a scheduled periodic renourishment.

The federal government is paying 65%, or $17 million, of the $26 million project. State and local funds will pay for the rest.

The project will pump 1.1 million cubic yards of sand — the equivalent of more than 100,000 dump trucks worth— onto beaches in the three towns.