LBI, New Jersey

[Nolcrest]

So glad to hear this. Was just talking to someone today who told me they booked their house rental for ShipBottom this summer and things were good. I wasn't too sure.

My DH & I have stayed at The Sand Castle B&B in Barnegat and wondered how they had made out.

Hope LBI has a great summer.

[LBIJim]

Originally Posted by XYSRUS

Can anyone tell me how LBI is recently? We stay every year in Barnegat Light and I was wondering how the island and businesses are doing. We love it there!

Barnegat Light is fine. They have a wide extensive dune field up there and Sandy damage was minimal. We have a tradition of visiting the lighthouse on New Year's Day and it didn't even look like a storm hit when we went. In fact, the whole north side of LBI from Ship Bottom to Barnegat Light looks great. There might be some scattered damage remaining on various side streets.

Originally Posted by Buckalew11

Facebook has been great for LBI updates--through the storm and now. I was able to give LBIJim links that he did not have through these FB sources. I think they were very helpful!

Yes they were and still are very helpful and informative. Thanks again!!

[QUOTE=Buckalew11;47285256
Happy to hear that it IS good news. I did read that Holgate was pretty bad. [/QUOTE]

Holgate is still pretty devastated. I drove down last weekend and there's still sand on some sections of the Boulevard. Some homes are partially collapsed, others are sitting at cockeyed angles on their lots, and a few floated off their foundations and hit the neighbor's house. The trailer park is in shambles. The damage to the beachfront homes is very inconsistent. 4 or 5 in a row look relatively undamaged, then 4 or 5 in a row are sitting 15 to 20 feet high on their pilings like an absurd flamingo. Then another row of homes in decent condition, etc. The boulevard will need to be resurfaced: many potholes and other rough areas. I doubt this section of LBI will be rebuilt before summer.




I'm in Beach Haven, bayside. The southern part near Holgate has some major damage, but not nearly as much as Holgate. The beachfront pavilions at Pearl Street and 5th Street were washed away. Some homes were damaged beyond repair and still need to be torn down. But nearly everything else has been at least cleaned up. There's a lot of repair/remodeling/reconstruction going on.

The Beach Haven Boro Hall is closed and the town is conducting its business in part of the Coast Guard building. I see 3 or 4 of those "extra classroom" type of trailers in front of the Ship Bottom boro hall and I'm guessing it was badly damaged as well.

The Beach Haven elementary school hasn't reopened. Its students are going to the Eagleswood Township school on the mainland. Actually I don't think it should reopen at all. There's only like 60 students for K-6. And I heard that only about 50 are going to Eagleswood; the rest relocated elsewhere. Someone said the 5th grade has only 2 students. They should just dissolve the district and join the main LBI district.

The Chamber of Commerce and other sources are saying LBI is open for business, but in reality only 25% of the businesses are open year round anyway. Of the 25% that are year round, I'd say about 2/3 of them have reopened. Others should within the next few months. The three supermarkets are still closed, and I think only one gas station is open. But I'm confident that 95%+ of LBI will be restored and open for summer.

For those who may understand, you KNOW things aren't back to normal when the two Wawas remain closed!!!

Brenda, Buckalew's restaurant has reopened!!!

Jim

[LBIJim]

Originally Posted by tuckerkeys

And to add a GOOD story about insurance, I got my claim from flood already ( we had 32" of water in my garage but not my home as we're elevated) we had no issues b/c we READ our policy and knew what was & was not covered. The home owners who thought their 100k landscaping, outdoor kitchens, pools, hot tubs etc etc would be covered obviously did not read their policy. We also have experienced storms before, KNEW it would be a flood event so we prepared well in advance ( as well as stayed ) and moved cars off island, put things up over 5' and did not expect not much damage....

anyway, YES LBI is open come on down this summer!

I got my settlements from flood insurance too. Not enough to cover all the damage, but then I didn't expect to. I'm hearing all kinds of sob stories from various people, mostly from those whose LBI houses are second homes. Some of them didn't have flood insurance either. FEMA doesn't cover vacation homes. And with no flood insurance, they're pretty much SOL. Even with insurance, there's a limit as to what they'll pay. They MAY be able to get SBA loans, but there's a lot of hoops to jump through. Either they didn't understand, or were willing to risk there wouldn't be such a devastating storm. If they can't afford to pay for repairs themselves, they'll probably have to sell out.

Originally Posted by tuckerkeys

also wanted to mention that 2 weeks ago, when it was in the 60's in NJ I spent a lot of time on my beach picking up drift wood, shells, sea glass, sand dollars...My beach actually got BIGGER from superstorm sandy - a result of the southerly flow of the tides & bringing in sand from the northern part of the island. Everything is pretty much cleaned up from the front of peoples houses, Dec 21 was the last day for homeowners to put out at the street & it's all off the island now. Anyone who waited has to put into a dumpster now.

Holgate got the brunt of the damage. It is pretty narrow and low elevation. Beach Haven was next, then the township. If you are in a wide part of the island, you seemed to be ok. Narrow, not so much. I live in a pretty wide part of Ship Bottom We still saw 4' of water in my neighborhood. The last significant storm to bring water to the island was the Dec 1992 nor'easter, which was our benchmark to prep for sandy ( where there was 2' of water in my neighborhood) When we re did my home in 2006, we made sure to elevate as high as we could go b/c we've been through floods before & will again. With the new flood maps I'm still above grade. Our neighbors to the east of us spent $300,000 2 years ago to completely remodel their house. They did not elevate ( and did it little by little so they did not have to elevate w/ the 50% law ) anyway the entire 1st floor is a loss. They are fixing again and guess what - NOT elevating again......There are SO many stories like this I can;t even start.

My house was built sometime in the late 1940s. It was my grandparent's summer home and from what I understand, it suffered major damage from the 1962 Ash Wednesday nor'easter. But they fixed it up again. I only had about 3 inches of water in my yard in 1992, no more so than from the dozen or so various other storms over the years. When I decided to remodel and expand, I had to elevate the house due to the 50% stipulation. I wanted to raise it anyway.

I'm also seeing remodeling on ground level homes. I suppose they'll risking that "it won't happen again." And I think there are STILL some beachfront property owners who are refusing to sign the access easements to rebuild the beaches.

Beach Haven's beach was relatively narrow before the storm. After the storm there was hardly ANY beach at high tide. But they've been dumping and spreading sand as a stopgap measure. I haven't checked out the beach recently, so I don't know how it looks. In general, though, the beach always got smaller in winter, then grew again in spring due to the currents.

Jim

[PammyK]

Thanks for sharing your updates, LBIJim and Tuckerkeys. Some of my favorite childhood memories come from family vacations on LBI when we would rent the house across the Boulevard from Nardi's for a couple weeks each summer. And before I moved out of NJ, I had my own tradition of renting a house down in Holgate for a week every September after the crowds had all gone home so it makes me sad to think that "my" rental and/or the surrounding homes may have been devastated by the storm.

I wish everyone on LBI the best as you continue to clean up and rebuild so many more wondeful family memories can be made up there this summer.

[disneydaughter26]

Went to the opening of the Chegg last week!!


From what I've seen, down to LBI and up to Asbury, Seaside and Mantolking were hit the hardest. Just took a ride on 35 up to Asbury yesterday and it's still such a mess. Mantolking looks like a giant came in picked up houses and threw them around. it just makes you stomach turn seeing the devastation still 6 months later.