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I know a lot of you are concerned about how last week’s nor’easter impacted the Borough and its ongoing hydraulic beach fill project, so most of my column is devoted to that subject. But please continue to scroll through, because this newsletter also covers a lot more of what’s going on in Avalon.
One year after Hurricane Erin passed off the coast of Avalon on August 22-23, 2025, causing serious beach erosion and the scarfing of dune structures at the north end of the island, the federally-funded $15.7 million hydraulic beach fill project to repair the damage and restore the beaches finally got underway.
On Tuesday, September 1, the US Army Corps of Engineers’ contractor, Norfolk Dredging, began pumping sand from Townsends Inlet onto the beach between 13th and14th streets. After spreading more than 200,000 cubic yards of sand at this location, the operation moved north, and by September 19, over 520,000 cubic yards had been dredged, enough to fully repair and restore all the beaches and dunes between the Townsends Inlet jetty and 14th Street.
The project was then scheduled to move south and begin filling the beaches between 15th and 25th streets, but that was not to be.
At 6 am on Sunday, September 20, all work was suspended due to anticipated rough seas and high winds from a storm forming off the Carolina coast that was forecast be begin tracking north. Norfolk Dredging ordered its dredge ship Delaware to pull up anchor and move inland to Great Egg Harbor until the weather cleared.
For the next week, the weather never cleared. Instead, the storm strengthened, became a fully-formed nor’easter, and ever-so-slowly made its way up the coast. By Thursday, September 24, it was battering Avalon with 12-to-15-foot waves backed by wind gusts up to 50 mph, and high tides that had not been seen since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
As the relentless storm persisted, on Friday, September 25, Governor Mikie Sherrill declared a state of emergency for eight coastal counties. The increasingly higher tides brought two to three feet of flooding to some Avalon’s streets, particularly those bordering the bay, which rendered them impassable at times. Some motorists tried anyhow, and had to be rescued from their plight by first responders. The Townsends Inlet Bridge was shut down during these high tides because of flooding and debris that washed onto the access roads. There also were occasional power outages in the north end of town.
Finally, on Sunday afternoon, the storm passed to the north and the National Weather Service lifted its Coastal Flood Warning for Avalon.
Early indications are that Avalon’s beaches held up fairly well during the storm. There was only moderate damage to the newly repaired beaches between 9th and 14th streets, primarily because for the latter half of the storm the wind was from the north, not the northeast, and the surf was blunted by the jetty. Teams from the Army Corps of Engineers and the NJ Department of Environmental Protection will be in town this week to make a fuller assessment of the damage.
However, the beaches between 18th and 21st streets, which had not yet been filled, did not fare as well, incurring significant additional erosion requiring closure of their beach paths. Beach paths between 22nd and 26th streets also were temporarily closed for repairs.
And what about the beach fill project? Will it continue?
As of now, it is expected that the Delaware will return to Townsends Inlet this week and Norfolk Dredging will begin pumping sand onto the beaches between 16th and 25th streets in accordance with the original plans. Avalon and Sea Isle City also are in discussions with Norfolk Dredging for a joint project to dredge the navigational channel in Townsends Inlet. If that comes about, the dredged sand from the channel could be used to replenish what was lost as a result of the storm.
As it turns out, the fact that more than half of the beach fill project had been completed before the storm arrived was a blessing. The beaches and dunes between 9th and 15th streets were already severely compromised, and this storm may well have breached the dune system had the replenishment sand not been in place.
We will continue to follow the progress of this project, and you also can receive periodic updates by logging onto the Borough’s home page, avalonboro.net.
Please don’t forget that AHLOA’s final in-person meeting of the year will take place on Saturday, October 10 at 9 am in the 39th Street Tennis Building. Our guest speaker will be Marilyn O’Donoghue of Compass Realty, who will provide an update and outlook on the Avalon real estate market.
Hope to see you at our October 10 meeting and at the Arts and Seafood Festival later that day
Warren Faulk
President
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