Sandy

http://www2.snapfish.com/hpphotocenter/ ... s%22%7D%7D

should get you to my snapfish account with photos of Bethany Beach and Ocean View DE area. Most of the flooding is in Bethany Beach.

Our house in Ocean View was unscathed except for damaged mum and gate. Dodged the bullet by not being waterfront and relatively high ground.

Route 1 is closed because of breach of dunes north of Indian River inlet which is north of Bethany Beach. TV reports broadcast from Ocean City MD and Rehoboth DE and ignored the in between.

Bill Uffelman
Ocean View DE
 
People say that the happiest times a person associates with boating is when he or she first gets their boat and then when they sell it. As for me, going down to Port Niantic today to see the Betty Ann all tucked in her berth and unharmed was my second, happiest day. The water did not get too high in the building, and from what I understand, no boats were damaged in the valet facility. I feel sorry for the people working the marina, though, as it created quite a mess for them to clean up.

Touring around Groton and Waterford, CT, it looks like that end of the state had damage that was light -- mostly relegated to water damage. Regardless, a resident at Groton Long Point told me today that they sustained constant winds of 60 MPH with one gust measured at 89 MPH! The surge was so powerful, it tore apart a sea wall and sent water cascading into the streets. Unfortunately for those of us living toward the western end of Long Island Sound, the damage was much more severe.

rich
 
Although we obviously don't have any storm surge to worry about here in Ohio, we have had about 36 hours of winds to 65 mph, about 6 plus inches of rain and Lake Erie has 20-30 foot waves pounding the southern shore of the lake!

We plan on heading down to our cabin 48 miles to the south tomorrow to check on it and look for downed trees. On the positive side, we hope our lake's level has returned to normal. It is down over three feet this year due to the drought and only has about a third of its normal surface area.

Of course, this is not intended to make light of the damage and tragedy caused by this historic storm.

Nick
"Valkyrie"
 
I just talked to a customer and a boating friend who lives in the Pt. Pleasant, Brielle New Jersey area. His 30 foot Rampage is ok still at the dock, three boats down from him another boat sank. The municipalities have started the clean up. My friend eye witnessed a huge front loader pushing boats around that had floated and been left high and dry on streets, railroad tracks etc. Then he saw them start actually picking up boats with the bucket on the front end loader. Now that can't be good for the gel coat. The insurance companies are going to get beat up on this storm. Lots of cars and water logged boats will be total losses.
D.D.
 
Some interesting pictures on this Phila.news site of a marina we stayed at in Tuckertown last Wednesday a week ago before the storm while on our coastal New Jersey boat trip. If this is any interest click on the link and look for a tab showing storm damage photos and videos then look for the Long Beach Island, Tuckerton tab. This marina was in great shape a week ago is the first two or three pictures. This surge was high enough that floated blocked boats on land and piled them up. The marina is Sheltered Cove Marina in Tuckerton. They started to restore power to the town and started having explosions as gas lines are damaged. Now they have to repair the gas lines before restoring power. I talked the marina and they said they had winds to 88 mph and ended up having six foot of water in the marina store. Here's the link www.myfoxphilly.com
D.D.
 
So how does this get sorted out, where someone's boat gets loose and ends up crashing into someone's house, yard or sitting on the railroad tracks, so who’s responsible for the removal, damage done etc., since “sandy” would be considered by the insurance companies as an act of God?

Just curious!

Regards,

Ron Fisher
 
Hope you all effected by the storm are good as me. I pulled "Remembrance" early when I heard the first report about how bad it was going to be. Posted some pictures of my slip in GK Harbor. None of the boats or docks belong there, they are from 1/4 mile away. This is exactly where mine would have been.
"Ark" in Redbank, we met over the summer, how did you do?
 
Connie Fisher":2vt336xv said:
So how does this get sorted out, where someone's boat gets loose and ends up crashing into someone's house, yard or sitting on the railroad tracks, so who’s responsible for the removal, damage done etc., since “sandy” would be considered by the insurance companies as an act of God?

Just curious!

Regards,

Ron Fisher
Click to expand...

Hi Ron,

It depends a lot on the insurance company and the type of coverage. Your regular homeowner's insurance does NOT cover hurricane or flood damage. You have to have separate policies for both of those. Even then, you get into the situation where the different adjusters will argue about which policy should cover what... was your dock damaged by the tidal surge or was it wind damage? Part of your roof blew off and the inside of your house was saturated by the 20+ inches of rain blowing horizontally... wind or water damage?

Having been through a hurricane and dealt with the aftermath, it is an exercise in frustration... while you wait for adjusters, but you don't want to start repairing things before they get there? We were able to get an adjuster in about 48 hours after we were able to get back on our island, then we went to work immediately on the repairs. Contractors get overwhelmed. Supplies needed to make repairs are quickly sold out. The more you can do yourself, the better off you are.

Need to get that boat off the railroad track? Get a trailer, a come-along, a ramp, something to roll on, and some friends who are willing to help.

If your house is gone, that is another story. You have some gut-wrenching decisions to make. If there is water damage, you need to start ripping out dry wall (wet wall?), carpet, and other flooring to see how deep the damage goes... it is VERY important to start the drying out process right away to keep the mold at bay.

I understand why some folks can't imagine living in a hurricane zone. Probably the same reason that other folks can't imagine the need for self-sufficiency during a blizzard... or even wanting to be where the water freezes and there is nothing green and flowering for months at a time.

Hurricane insurance is expensive. You can be sure there are a LOT of people in the affected areas who do not have that insurance. Or flood insurance. This is where the government will likely come in and make low-interest loans for people to rebuild. Some times, the National Guard or State Road Crews will come in with heavy equipment to remove the big stuff (displaced boats, roofs, demolished buildings) in the interest of public safety. If that displaced boat was in ruins before getting moved, you can bet that there will be even more damage after.

Hurricane Dolly hit our area in 2008. I would venture that most people (beyond those who live here) probably don't even remember it. Jim Cantore was here for a day or two, then moved on to the next big weather story. The damage was widespread: economic ruin for a lot of businesses, since the hurricane hit early in the summer tourist season. Communities that were still flooded months later. Two years later, there were still places rebuilding. Four years later, there are "the scars": foundations where a building used to be; empty buildings where a business used to be.

The media reported it: "Fortunately, the hurricane made landfall in a relatively unpopulated area."

Sandy will go down in the books as one of the most expensive natural disasters our nation has faced. Those in that area will be affected by this for years to come. A long time after folks have forgotten about that boat on the railroad tracks, there will be people who fear any mention of a storm.

So, who's responsible when stuff goes flying around? Time to find out how comprehensive one's insurance is. And in the end, we all pay more for insurance after something like this.

Sorry if that was way more detail than you wanted.

Jim B.
 
I drove down to Brielle, N.J. to pick a custom fishing rod that Bogan's Tackle Shop had made. The Bogan family has about eight fishing boats located about 400 yards from this tackle shop the largest being the Jamaica which is 125 feet. They manned all the boats for two days during the storm adjusting lines keeping the boats railings from getting hung up on the pilings as the boat rose and fell with the tides. These folks have been at the same location since the 1930's. The water was the highest they had ever seen. The storm hit there at high tide on the night of the full moon. Power outages are all over New Jersey still. What was really scarey were the lines at the gas stations most with police presence. A separate pump was just for people on foot carrying portable gas containers. The lines in some cases were spilling out of the station and on down the street. I picked up my rod and got out of there. Lots of main transmission lines caught fire and will have to be completely replaced. Near the tackle shop the main power line that feeds Point Pleasant across the Manasquan river is completely toast. We were only with out power for three days back in Pa.. Can you imagine living in a high rise apartment building in NYC and being up in your years with no power?
D.D.
 
I'm curious. Looking at the Jersey coast on Google Maps, theree is just a thin barrier island just as Ken says. Having gone up that coast, there's no steep cliffs, just a low lying sand strip. Yet, when I look at Sea Isle City, that sand strip is built up with homes all across, 2-3 blocks deep, where it ends in the New Jersey ICW.

My question is, how do those houses/businesses/structures withstand the normal storms coming in off the Atlantic? How high is the elevation where the buildings are? I'm amazed that Sandy didn't just level that whole barrier island, indeed the main damage seems to be up in NY.

Boris
 
Scientists warn that with climate warming, sea level will be rising and storm surge increasing into the foreseeable future. It's just a matter of time (perhaps geologic time) and the barrier islands will be swept clean.

North Carolina stuck it's legislative head into the sand (pun intended), ignoring the warnings from climatologists and geologists and blocked funding for the study of their barrier islands.

"Could nature be mocking North Carolina's law-makers? Less than two weeks after the state's senate passed a bill banning state agencies from reporting that sea-level rise is accelerating, research has shown that the coast between North Carolina and Massachusetts is experiencing the fastest sea-level rise in the world." --http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=north-carolina-sea-level-rises-desipte-senators

The Intracoastal Waterways along the Gulf and East Coasts will be difficult to maintain unless preventative action is taken.
 
Boris,
I think New Jersey Staten Island New York took the brunt of it. On most of New Jersey's barrier islands there might be as little as ten feet of elevation difference maybe twenty feet at the most. They have relied on sand dunes with dune grass planted as a defense against Noreasters but these storms eat away at the protective dunes. This storm ate the dunes for breakfast and the sea and the bay became one. Sandy's winds out of the east pushed the sea water in as full moon tides where at their peak when the storm hit. I know of two new inlets in New Jersey from Sandy. Last year a new inlet was cut down in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Same scenario barrier islands. New Jersey and New York need to make some investments in sea walls to protect this kind of thing from turning New York into a third world country. I think the Dutch have made these investments since Hans Brinker thumb just was not big enough anymore. On our trip down the intercoastal waterway on October 24 & 25th we could not believe the number of boats still in the water. Just getting your boat out of the water was not good enough as they floated off the blocks in the marinas. The boats needed to get moved inland. The massive storm had already been predicted to be a massive 800 mile wide event. People on this section of the easy coast had grown complacent as the last major storm occurred in 1962.
I feel bad for all the people hurting and who have lost their homes and belongings. This will surely put a damper of seashore real estate prices. What about boat insurance. I bet it's going to hard to get insurance on those ocean front houses now. Noreasters come this time of year every year. It's what triggers the striped bass run. Waters cool storms fllush the bait out of the bays and the bait heads south and the migrating stripers and bluefish follow the food. I would bet that the new insurance will require boats to be pulled earlier and stored differently as a result of this massive amount of claims attempt to break the insurance companies.
D.D.
 
If things were not bad enough for New York and the New Jersey shore temps for today 41 high 32 low, the coastal weather forecast as follows
Today: N winds 35 to 45 kt with gusts up to 55 kt. Seas 11 to 16 ft...building to 13 to 18 ft this afternoon. Rain. Vsby 1 to 3 nm. :cry:
D.D.
 
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