I've been without electric for 20 hours here on the mainland in Ocean View. I'm just getting online to catch up. We had a generator so we were able to run the fridge and a small heater for several hours at a time and we could still use our gas stove for cooking. But having no internet is mind numbingly boring! I'm so pathetic, what did I do before the internet?
If you've emailed me the past day, I will reply soon.
Anyway, here is a little info that I heard from Tuesday.
Several people stayed in Strathmere for the storm, mostly our volunteer firemen and their family members. I spoke to someone who stayed, they drove through town to assess the damage.
All streets had water in them at some point. I posted photos previously taken during low tide. The 8PM high tide was of course much worse. Some streets had just a few inches of water, others had 1 to 3 feet. Most of the water was from the bay and from rain. Some dunes in Whale Beach were breeched, making the road impassable there.
I saw a photo on Twitter of a collapsed wall around a raised septic,
but I was told that there was no other major structural damage to homes in Strathmere - none washed away, none collapsed, no blown off roofs. Your house is still standing! Maybe loose siding or shingles, torn screens, deck damage. etc.
There will be a lot of water damage, of course, due to the flooding.
If you have a garage or low/ground level living quarters, expect water to have gotten in. There is a lot of debris on yards and streets, many docks were torn up.
The electric never went out in Strathmere during the storm!
About 5PM we received a recorded phone call from the Upper Township mayor. Ocean City and Sea Isle were still closed due to flooding and debris, so no way into Strathmere yet. The work crew was working on digging out Commonwealth in Whale Beach. He also reported that there was no major structural damage to homes, but a lot of clean up work is ahead for homeowners.
Accoridng to Cape May County Emergency page -
http://www.capemaycountygov.net/
Current Emergency Information
October 30, 2012 - 6:45 p.m.
County Roads that remain closed at this time:
Ocean Drive (CR619) from 4th Avenue to Townsends Inlet Bridge in Avalon is closed indefinitely because the roadway was severely damaged and portions of the roadway have washed away
Ocean Drive (CR619) from 29th Street in Sea Isle City to 56th Street in Ocean City is closed due to sand covering the roadway and damage to the roadway.
IT'S ONLY A RUMOR - The Strathmere Bridge did not catch on fire and it did not collapse. The RusshChattin fishing bridge at Corson's Inlet is alright too. It's part of the road in between that has some collapsing and is closed. See the photo below from Riordans.
Ocean Drive coming out of Strathmere heading towards Ocean City. The Northbound lane has collapsed into the Bay and is impassable
Below are some more photos from Riordan Real Estate's Facebook page -
Part of a deck on Sherman -
This is looking at the Corson's Inlet Bridge during the morning high tide yesterday. The evening tide was at least 1.5 feet higher. You can see the public works backhoe parked on the bridge. This was the only place it could be safely stored and it stayed there until the digging began this morning
Debris like this is in many yards -
The firehouse had about 1 foot of water in it during high tide.
Whale Beach is impassable because of sand and debris. This is as far as you can make it in Whale Beach. This is around 1900 Commonwealth. Everything South of this point is not reachable from town.
Bayview, drying out after being flooded for 72 hours - Webster Road to Sherman Road is covered in a layer of mud.
The Deauville -
Nearly every bayfront property had major damage to their docks -
