Aug 10, 2007 2:11 pm US/Eastern
Orr At The Shore: Sea Isle City
SEA ISLE (CBS 3) ―
Sea Isle City boasts five miles of uncrowded beaches on a shore line that was drastically changed by the "Great Storm" of 1962. CBS 3 Meteorologist Kathy Orr reports on how the resort was affected.
The beach and the boardwalk, they go together like surf and sand. But when storms whip up the waves, the boardwalk is threatened and sometimes destroyed along with homes and businesses.
That's what happened in 1962 when a Nor'easter called "The Ash Wednesday Storm" hit the mid-Atlantic coast.
For nearly 3 days the storm battered the shore with ferocious winds. Forty people were killed.
Meteorologically, a blocking pattern set up with two opposing weather systems; a high system to the north, a low system to the south. With neither system moving an enormous wind developed and created waves 20-30 feet high on the coast. The winds changed the shore forever.
Long-time Sea Isle resident Dave Farina said he will never forget the storm.
"Landmark properties that I knew all my life were gone, disappeared. It was a very trying time and it tested our mettle," he said.
The Sea Isle Historical Museum holds dozens of pictures of the storm and the damage it caused.
The storm flooded shore towns, ripped apart the steel pier and blew out the boardwalk in many resorts. In Sea Isle the boards have never been replaced. Instead, a paved walkway called the promenade is this shore town's boardwalk today.
Sea Isle's Mayor Leonard Desiderio explained why the blacktop was built.
"It protects the properties up here with the pavement and when we do get flooding it's much better than the boards," he said.
The Promenade was built in 1962 after the storm. The black-top walkway runs a mile and a half and is lined with shops, eateries and arcades. Like any boardwalk, Sea Isle's beach-front promenade is a great place to enjoy biking, jogging and just plain strolling.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Stumble It!
Comments