It didn't rain, but there was Flooding in Strathmere

In the afternoon, the tide was so high that it was coming up over the new metal bulkheads across the front of the point, and into the street at Neptune and Seaview.
Much of Bayview was flooded by the overflowing bay, and sea water was coming up through the storm drains flooding Commonwealth from Willard to Vincent.
Here are 2 blurry photos that I snapped with my cellphone. This was when the water was just starting to rise. The street was eventually filled with several inches of water that stayed for several hours.

COASTAL WINDS BRING DAMAGING FLOODS TO STRATHMERE

COASTAL WINDS BRING DAMAGING FLOODS TO STRATHMERE
Christina Stolfo ( ) - 10/19/08 10:06 pm
Last Updated - 10/19/08 10:51 pm


STRATHMERE--Although South Jersey remained dry today, strong on-shore winds and high astronomical tides caused minor coastal flooding for most coastal towns.

However, the damage in Strathmere is being called "major" with the mayor calling for a state of emergency.

Water overflowed the bulkhead this afternoon along Seaview and Neptune Avenues, flooding streets and damaging homes on both the beach and the inlet sides.

The entire Strathmere area reported flooding, with homes along Neptune Avenue sustaining major damage.

Upper Township Mayor, Rich Palombo says a state of emergency has been filed with the county and he is pressuring the state to help the situation.

Until then, officials will attempt a temporary fix.

"For the time being, what we're going to do is we're going to bring in some heavy rock material to try and secure the bulkhead area by the seashore or beach area for the time being. Hopefully it will offset some of this flooding we're experiencing over here," says Palombo.


http://www.nbc40.net/pages/videoplayer/video.php?vid=7210

Steel wall fails to stop floods in Strathmere

Steel wall fails to stop floods in Strathmere
By EDWARD VAN EMBDEN Staff Writer

Published: Monday, October 20, 2008
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/181/story/290428.html


UPPER TOWNSHIP - On the road, just beyond the porch of his mother's home and a recently constructed bulkhead paid for by neighborhood residents, Chip Boardman was standing under a cloudless sky up to his knees in water.
The Strathmere section of Upper Township, as well as parts of Sea Isle City and Ocean City, were flooded Sunday after a storm off the coast caused havoc at the arrival of high tide before noon.

An area hit hardest was the northern end of Strathmere, where Boardman and several other residents have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a retention wall in an effort to protect their homes from what is becoming an ever-increasing problem.

"Right now," Boardman said in a phone interview Sunday. "I'm standing in the middle of the road and I'm looking in every direction and the water is continuous, flowing everywhere."

To protect Boardman's home as well as those of five neighbors on Seaview Drive, residents paid to have a steel retention wall built to stave off high tides and stormy seas. At about $1,000 per foot, Boardman said his mother paid close to $150,000 to protect her home, with nearby residents paying similar totals for theirs.

But with Sunday's storm, with 20-mph winds and little else, it appears as though the wall may not be enough.
"We had to go through great expense to put the wall in and still, the whole island is pretty bad," he said. "The storm has made (the water) exceptionally high and unfortunately, that water coming in from the north end is going to keep coming in."

Upper Township Mayor Richard Palombo said Sunday's floods posed a significant threat to the area's infrastructure and that emergency crews were called in with tons of dirt and gravel to help out.

But as they started unloading it, he said, they found that it was being washed away too quickly, and eventually the emergency crews went back and brought in trucks full of rocks and stones to form a more effective barrier.

"We acted quickly and put in an emergency bulkhead and brought in harder rock and other material to protect the infrastructure," Palombo said. "This was not a major storm. The wind was blowing at maybe 20 miles per hour, sustained, but not enough that you'd expect this."

This is just the latest chapter in the island's flooding problems, he said.

About a year and a half ago a major section of state-owned beach that served as a large sand barrier and habitat for wildlife was washed away in a Mother's Day storm. The area of beach, with its dunes and shrubbery, acted as a natural barrier until it disappeared.

But since then, Palombo said, there have only been patchwork emergency efforts.

"We have been working with the state continuously for the last eight or nine months to get a beach replenishment," Palombo said of replacing the washed away beach on the coast. "I don't think putting sand on the inland side is the answer. We've not had two emergency sandfills that have completely washed away along with the land that used to be there."
Since that first storm, he said, things have gotten progressively worse.
What the island needs, he said, is help from the state and the Department of Environmental Protection.

Broadman said an issue he has with the retention wall is that it was built to follow property lines. As a result, he said, there are odd angles where water is able to get in and collect.
What should have happened but couldn't because state law would not allow it, he said, is the wall should have been designed and built in a way that just works better.

Palombo said his office will be in touch with the state tomorrow to try and expedite the process of finding a solution to the problem.
Palombo no one even expected anything like this to happen.
"It's been sunny all day," he said. "I don't know if anyone had any heads-up that this was happening. We had no rain, no nothing."

E-mail Edward Van Embden:

evanembden@pressofac.com

Beach photos 10/16/08

The beach from Winthrop and south is really huge at low tide.







Looking north from the beach at Winthrop. The point is nearly gone, but it looks like a new point is forming in front of Seaview/Seacliff beaches. At least all the sand that the township trucked in didn't go very far.






The water between the pilings is several feet deep, even at low tide.

Remember Mrs. Schilling from Ernie's Corner?

Tim Cox forwarded this story about Mrs. Schilling, and it has a mention of when she and her husband Ernest ran the grill and grocery store in Strathmere. She celebrated her 100th birthday this week.

Blandine Schilling, 99, leads an active life of faith
BY CHRISTINA LEE KNAUSS THE CATHOLIC MISCELLANY HILTON HEAD —

Blandine Schilling, 99, has become one of the best-known members of St. Francis by the Sea Church. She attends daily Mass so faithfully, always sitting in the front row, that when she left for a two-month trip earlier this summer, she was instantly missed.Daughter Susan Boyd said that dozens of people greet her by name at church social functions, and at locations around the island. Her birthdays have become a cause for celebration at the parish.

Schilling, a native of France, will celebrate her 100th birthday on Oct. 16. She said her strong religious faith and a good attitude have helped her live this long. “My faith helps me to live. I could not be without it,” Schilling said in a recent interview with The Miscellany. “I have been so blessed to have a healthy life and a healthy family.” She’s been a member at St. Francis by the Sea since 1998, when she moved to South Carolina from Florida.

She grew up in the city of Tourcoing in the north of France, in a region known for its textile mills. Schilling started working in the mills when she was 13, and became adept at a skill called “invisible mending,” which involved hand sewing to fix flaws in fabric as it came off the looms. She came to the United States through Ellis Island at the age of 19, after the death of her mother.“She had four brothers and sisters at home, and her father let her go because she could send money home,” Boyd said. “She also said she wanted to come because of the adventure of going to the United States.” Schilling remembered one humorous anecdote from her time at Ellis Island. A processing agent told her that American girls “would be jealous of her beautiful teeth.” Schilling grew up during World War I, and she said sugar and sweets were almost nonexistent.

Schilling moved to Philadelphia to live with an aunt and took a job in her mending shop. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, Schilling’s “invisible mending” was in high demand because people couldn’t afford to buy new clothes and brought them to her to be repaired. In Philadelphia, Schilling met a German immigrant, Ernest Schilling, when both were enrolled in night school to learn English. The two married and raised seven children — three girls and four boys — in Philadelphia, where Ernest ran a restaurant called the Fernwood Diner.

The family continued to grow over the years. Schilling now has 18 grandchildren and 17 great-grands. Ernest wasn’t Catholic when they were first married, so the couple said their vows in a rectory. He later became a convert, and the couple renewed their vows with a full church wedding in 1960.

They moved to Strathmere, N.J., and ran a grocery store and grill there until the early ‘80s, and then retired to Florida. Ernest died in 1991, and Schilling moved to Hilton Head seven years later.For many years, she walked to the church from her apartment at an assisted living facility adjacent to the church property.

These days, Boyd drops Schilling off for Mass in the morning. “She’s treated like the doyenne of the church,” Boyd said. “People vie to take her home when it’s over.”“She’s quite an individual,” said Dr. Vincent Rerucha, a retired physician and fellow member of St. Francis who regularly drives Schilling home from daily Mass. “She is really considerate of everybody; she’s got a good memory; she knows everybody at St. Francis. And everybody knows Blandine.”

Lorraine Dufour also drives Schilling home frequently, and the women have become close friends. “She’s a really sweet lady and such a devoted parishioner,” Dufour said. “She loves a party and loves a good time. I draw a lot of inspiration from her. She’s like an Eveready battery; she keeps going.”Schilling’s daily life is an active one. She plays games three times a week, takes senior exercise classes, and reads three or more murder mysteries a week. Her favorite author is Agatha Christie. She crochets and makes baby blankets for each new family birth.

She also still nurtures a lifelong love for travel. Her most recent trips took her to Montana for a grandchild’s wedding, Bermuda, Philadelphia and upstate New York.

Her Catholic faith, Schilling said, is one of the reasons she is able to stay so active. She also knows how important it is to help others live their faith, she added. Schilling is an extraordinary minister of holy Communion who regularly brings the Eucharist to shut-ins at her assisted living complex. She said she has a special devotion to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, likes to say the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi and regularly prays seven rosaries a day.

“My mother has a very strong belief in God watching over her,” Boyd said. “She’s weathered the sadness in her life with an unshakeable faith.” Schilling said she doesn’t have any overly profound advice for people who wonder how she’s lived this long. Her three simple tips sum up the way she’s approached her entire life.“Stay active, stay involved, and keep the faith,” she said.
Published Oct. 2,, 2008, The Catholic Miscellany

My Doggies at the Beach

On 10/1/08, we took our doggies Boris, aged 7, and Harlow, 4 months, to the beach. It was Harlow's first time on the beach and she had alot of fun running in the water, sniffing shells, watching seagulls. Boris took a much more leisurely walk. It was a little windy, but the water was still very nice.

Please send us your 'Pets in Strathmere' photos!


Here are some videos and photos -