October 19, 2009 -HARVEY CEDARS, NJ - Alan Testa and David Kaltenbach stood at the edge of an 8-foot cliff Monday on the Gloucester Avenue dunes, surveying the surf and what was left of the beach.
"Did you know there was a bulkhead over there, Alan?" Kaltenbach said to Testa, pointing south to the Cape May Avenue dunes, where waves had cleared the sand surrounding a hulking metal retaining wall.
Testa had not. In fact, neither of the longtime residents had previously seen the beach as battered as it was Monday.
"This is four or five days of being brutally attacked by the northeaster," said Kaltenbach, of Barnegat Light. "I don't think I've ever seen it like this."
Two northeasters covered the state in rain starting Thursday and through the weekend, accompanied by wind gusts as strong as 40 mph. When the storms coincided with high tides, they brought flooding throughout the shore region, closing roads and bridges and bringing out the National Guard in some areas.
As usual, the southern end of Harvey Cedars took the brunt of the storm. However, Mayor Jonathan Oldham said the entire borough was hit pretty hard.
He said the borough lost a lot of dune fence but that the water did not break through the dunes anywhere. Many beach entrances were still blocked off Monday afternoon, even though the sun was finally shining.
In Cape May County, the Wildwoods experienced flooding from the storm and high tides, but no major damage was reported.......
