One dead after flooding, wind batter the Shore

Flooding and high winds battered the Jersey Shore on Saturday, threatening coastal communities that are still recovering from the devastation wrought by superstorm Sandy three years ago. At least one person in the region died in the storm this weekend.

Stacey Weathers, 46, of Tinton Falls, was killed when a tree fell on her convertible Ford Mustang as she drove south on Route 34, said Colts Neck Police Chief Kevin A. Sauter. Weathers was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:41 p.m. Saturday. The crash occurred about 15 minutes earlier, when the tree fell from the northern side of the highway. There were no other occupants in the vehicle, Sauter said.

Across New Jersey, the storm had caused scattered power outages. About 3,600 utility customers had no service on Saturday afternoon. About 2inches of rain had fallen in most areas since Wednesday. Forecasters said another 1 to 2 inches was possible by Sunday night.

In Middle Township in Cape May County, an entire house became dislodged from its pilings in a low-lying area. No one was in the residence when it floated away and authorities said the matter was under investigation.

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In the Toms River community of Ortley Beach on the northern barrier island, residents watched in exasperation as the sea breached the temporary dune line the township had patched together over the past few days. This is a neighborhood that lost all but 60 of its 2,600 homes in the storm surge of Oct. 29, 2012. With just 50 percent of the population back in rebuilt homes, some had been up all night, pacing their new floors and asking themselves and anyone who would listen — would the dunes hold?

“We had a breach by the south lifeguard house” and the entire beach berm has washed away, said Kathy Barisciano, treasurer and board member of the Ortley Beach Voters and Taxpayers Association.

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Barisciano said the association’s board has been fighting to get proper dunes built for three years and “I don’t know what’s taking so long - a bureaucratic mess. ... I am very frustrated. We’re beyond frustrated here in Ortley. This is only the beginning (of the storm season) and look what we have. I mean how much longer can we put a Band-Aid on this?”

Toms River Township Administrator Paul J. Shives sought to assure residents that the municipal government had the situation under control.

“The only breach I am aware of is a small breach underneath the Block House in Ortley,” Shives said late on Saturday afternoon. “We are in the process of placing additional sand at that location and a couple of other places as well.”

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Ocean County Sheriff Michael G. Mastronardy said Saturday he was closely monitoring reports of minor coastal flooding along the entire coastline in Ocean County. Late in the week the sheriff had dispatched patrols of sheriff’s officers to assist municipal departments as needed, and they remained on duty Saturday. Mastronardy’s officers had been in Little Egg Harbor assisting with flooding and downed wires there. He offered humility when asked about the situation in Ortley Beach.

“Before Sandy, I told the folks in Ortley Beach that everything would be OK,” Mastronardy said. “I’m not telling anyone that again.”

As of Saturday, Monmouth County appeared to be faring better than Ocean County because almost all of Monmouth’s beaches were replenished very recently, according to Jon K. Miller, a coastal engineering professor at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.

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“Based on our storm surge model ... it looks like we have two more dangerous high tides to get through (Saturday) afternoon and next,” Miller said in an email. “The midnight high (Saturday) is about a foot lower due to the normal astronomical tide, so that one should be less significant. Once we make it through those two highs, the water levels and waves should start to drop.”

Moderate coastal flooding would continue at high tide through the rest of the weekend and a coastal flood warning was expected to remain in effect until 6 p.m. Sunday, according to the National Weather Service in Mount Holly.

Widespread moderate tidal flooding was to occur at each high tide cycle through Sunday afternoon, particularly in the back bays since the onshore flow has prevented water from previous high tides from draining. Tidal flooding was expected to be minor with perhaps moderate spots along the coast. High tides would come again late Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, all according to the Weather Service.

Storm chaser Reed Timmer in Lakewood

Numerous roadways in the area were anticipated to repeatedly flood and moderate property damage was possible. The combined impact of the tides and wave action would result in moderate beach erosion, the Weather Service advised.

Still, it could have been far worse, Mastronardy observed.

Hurricane Joaquin — which had brought so much trepidation to the region earlier in the week — still was expected to pass well to the east of New Jersey late Monday and Tuesday and would not impact the area directly. The indirect effect is that the cyclone could delay a return to meteorological normalcy by maintaining high seas along the coast, the Weather Service warned.

Elsewhere Saturday, firefighters with the Seaside Park Volunteer Fire Department rescued a 40-year-old man who was aboard his 22-foot Angler boat in the Barnegat Bay. The engine had failed and the man was adrift off 14th Avenue, said Detective Chris Bonner of the Seaside Park Police Department.

Stranded boater rescued in Barnegat

Francis Riccio of Cranford was in the process of trying to remove his boat from the water to protect his property from the storm and was en route to the boat ramp aboard it when the mechanical issue arose, Bonner said.

In Keyport Harbor in the Cliffwood Beach section of Aberdeen, three sailboats came loose from their moorings on Saturday afternoon. Tugboats were dispatched to the scene to round up the vessels, police there said.

Despite the recent rain, New Jersey’s drought may not be over, according to state climatologist David A. Robinson.

“In my opinion, it would be premature to lower the (state Department of Environmental Protection) drought watch,” he said in an email. But he will consider whether to “trim” the state’s drought status as depicted in the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor update.

Precipitation totals since the Sept. 29 have ranged from 2 to 5 inches across New Jersey, Robinson said. The northern third of the state was “driest,” with precipitation ranging from 2 to 3 inches.

“This isn’t the best news for the reservoirs or for the Northeast water supply zone, but still represents an improvement from recent weeks,” he said. “The rain also couldn’t have fallen much better, generally moderate and of long duration, thus the ground was able to absorb most of it.”

Contributing: The Associated Press