Charging the weather. . . .
NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey shore town locked in a legal battle with the state over tens of millions of dollars it has spent trying — mostly in vain — to hold back the ocean now is more vulnerable than ever.
A recent winter typhoon destroyed part of North Wildwood’s sand dunes, leaving small piles the length of a children’s sandcastle in a popular hotel with $2. 5 billion in personal property and at least as many government buildings and infrastructure.
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New Jersey has fined the city $12 million for unauthorized beach maintenance that it claims could worsen erosion, while the city is suing the $30 million trucked to the site for more than one of each.
While they wait for a judge to sort things out amid climate change that brings rising sea levels and more intense storms, North Wildwood’s plight is a stark reminder that in the man vs. nature battle, in the long run, nature usually wins.
“This is the most vulnerable point ever,” said Mayor Patrick Rosenello. “We don’t even want a typhoon anymore. During normal high tides, water rises and flows through the domain where this dune used to be.
He walked along the beach where the waves broke a hole in the dunes, completely erasing them for about 20 feet. On either side were piles of sand that were slightly up to his knees. Elsewhere along the coast, dunes that last summer were about 5. 5 meters tall were less than half that height, and much less than that height in many places.
Previously, the city said it had spent $21 million transporting sand for emergency maintenance of its beaches. That amount has since increased to $30 million, Rosenello said.
But trucking sand is no longer an option, the mayor said, adding that erosion has created choke problems along the beach that are too narrow to let vending trucks through.
North Wildwood applied to the state for an emergency permit to build a metal bulkhead along the most eroded segment of its shoreline, which had already been done in two other locations.
But the state’s Department of Environmental Protection tends to oppose walls as a long-term solution, noting that hard structures cause sand to clear them, which can accelerate and worsen erosion.
The agency prefers the sort of beach replenishment projects carried out for decades by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where massive amounts of sand are pumped from offshore onto eroded beaches, widening them and creating sand dunes to protect the property behind them.
Almost all of New Jersey’s 204-kilometer seafront has benefited from such projects. But in North Wildwood, legal permits and asset easements from personal property owners have prevented that from happening.
Although the last two cities called upon to approve a sand replenishment task did so 11 months ago, the task still needs the final green light. Once that goal is achieved, the works will likely take two years, officials say.
On several occasions, North Wildwood made emergency repairs, adding a pre-construction bulkhead without state approval. New Jersey Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette warned the city last July that unauthorized paintings could have more serious consequences if they continued, adding to the potential loss of funding for long-term conservation. banks.
LaTourette wrote that the city “has continually engaged in destructive and illegal habits in the name of tourism and, supposedly, public safety. This is a mistake and it will have to stop. “
The Ministry of Environmental Protection says heavy sand-moving devices have weakened and lowered the height of the dunes, worsening the situation and destroying the habitat of plants and animals.
But North Wildwood sees itself as an existential risk with an unprotected coastline.
“Our fear is that there will be no more Wildwood,” said Maureen Lipert, who was out for a walk along the beach Monday. “All of North Wildwood could be wiped out if the water keeps coming over.”
“The water is going to hit our hotels and motels,” added another resident, Kim Milligan. “There’s new homes being built here every day. Our homes are going to be ruined.”
After Superstorm Sandy devastated the New Jersey coast in 2012, the Corps introduced a program to rebuild dunes along virtually the entire coast. Numerous clinical studies have shown that riparian communities with dunes that already protect them face Sandy much more than those that don’t. .
Sand replenishment has been the government’s preferred approach to protecting shorelines for decades. Critics say it’s inherently unnecessary to keep pumping sand onto shore, which will inevitably be washed away. But Congress continues to allocate money to that work, arguing that it’s effective. in the protection of lives and property, not to mention supporting the tourism industry.
Milligan, who lives several blocks from the ocean, only half-jokingly spotted a possible glimmer of hope if the worst were to happen in North Wildwood.
“I’ll have to go to the seashore,” he said.
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AP video journalist Tassanee Vejpongsa contributed to this story.
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Follow Wayne Parry on X, Twitter, www. twitter. com/WayneParryAC
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