By BILL BARLOW/Special to the Sentinel
STRATHMERE — After Hurricane Sandy slammed much of Cape May County in 2012, including deluging long sections of Ocean Drive along the barrier islands, a Cape May County project armored the stretch of roadway between the Rush Chattin Bridge and the Strathmere Bridge on an undeveloped island to the south of Ocean City.
A combination of buried corrugated steel and protective rocks joined the previous piers and jetties shoring up the road. Steps lead over the wall, but the beach that once stood on the other side is long gone. Most of the time, they lead to water, or when the tide is out to a narrow muddy flat, and are used by anglers and sightseers.
Past that, a stretch of cedar trees separates the road from an inlet beach. But erosion does not stop. It continues to eat away at the bank, chewing toward a section of roadway past the protective stones.
“It’s pretty much in imminent danger,” Committeeman Curtis Corson reported March 22 during the Upper Committee meeting. “One good storm, it’s going to go, I would think.”
Corson said he met with members of the Strathmere Fishing and Environmental Club, who raised concerns about the condition of the roadway.
Earlier this year, members of the club reached out to the township about concerns for sea level rise and the long-term future of the area.
A February letter, signed by club president Scott Oliver and accepted unanimously by the organization’s board, outlines recommendations to head off future damage. The proposals range from massive undertakings, such as creating a protective berm around Strathmere and Whale Beach, to developing a plan for salt resistant plants that could reduce the impact of residential development. Copies were also sent to lawmakers and to the county governing body.
Corson said club members called his attention to the roadside erosion. He added that the township should push the county to take action.
At the meeting, township engineer Paul Dietrich said the section washed out during the last series of northeast storms over the winter.
“I was on the phone with the county engineer the next day. He said that he was actually out there the same day. He’s aware of the problem. They’re looking to hire a contractor. I think it’s a little bigger than the county workers want to face. They’re planning on a bigger band-aid. They’re working on it.”
County officials have met with a contractor, Dietrich said this week, and have put protective barriers in place.
Beyond the barriers there remains a narrow patch of grass before it drops off steeply to the beach. A tree has fallen toward the water after its roots were undermined.
At the meeting, Mayor Rich Palombo said March and April have seen storms that have caused major damage. At a minimum, he said, the township should send a letter asking the county to create a plan to deal with a storm before the more thorough repairs are made so the causeway can remain open to traffic.
“We all remember what happened in Sandy,” he said, when the protective rocks were scattered across the road.
Corson stated that there was a danger of losing the road.
“It’s that close,” he said. “The biggest concern I have is a lot of our first responders, our ambulances all come from the Ocean City side. They back up our fire company. If we lose that road with Sea Isle being flooded we’re going to be literally an island with no way in or out.”
In the worst section, about 2 feet of grass stands between the eroded edge and the shoulder of the road.
People often park along that shoulder to kayak or fish from the beach. Before the county placed the barriers, some drivers would park nerve-wrackingly close to the eroded edge.
The road runs along Corson’s Inlet and has often been hit hard by storms. That included a tornado last summer that came between Ocean City and Strathmere to cross the marsh and tear through homes and businesses in Marmora. On Ocean Drive, the twister tore up cedar trees on both sides of the road, leaving a mangled pile of branches and splinters and blocking a path through the small section of woods.
The storm did far more damage once it crossed the marsh. No one was injured, but the property damage was extensive.
At the same meeting, Dietrich discussed plans to file for reimbursement of the township’s costs with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said he recently met with FEMA officials and planned to work with the Public Works Department and Township Manager Scott Morgan to detail the township’s costs.
“We’re anticipating putting in close to $250,000 to almost $300,000 worth of damages for the storm total,” he said, with the expectation of getting 75 percent of those costs reimbursed.