Record tides, 2 feet of flooding at Shore

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - At the Jersey Shore, it was a matter of perspective Saturday as a powerful winter storm brought fierce winds, tidal flooding, and snow accumulation for more than 24 hours.

To some, the 1 to 2 feet of water flooding streets in Ocean City and Margate didn't seem like much of a threat in places where nor'easters are common at this time of the year and heavy rainstorms often produce the same results.

In other spots, officials lamented "record flooding" that forced a number of road closures all along the coast from Atlantic City to Cape May.

Record tides were reported at Cape May Harbor and Stone Harbor: 9.38 feet and 10.52 feet, easily beating the highs registered during Sandy in 2012.

In Wildwood, Mayor Ernie Troiano said the flooding was "way worse than Sandy. ... We've seen a significant amount of water in parts of town that hadn't been flooded in decades."

Barnegat Township in Ocean County was the only municipality that called for a mandatory evacuation of a handful of residents ahead of the storm on Friday night. In Atlantic City and some other areas, some residents evacuated voluntarily.

Fires were reported in a commercial building in Sea Isle City and a condo complex in Brigantine. Authorities said both were fueled by gusting winds that reached more than 60 m.p.h. in some spots along the shore.

The winds, blowing to the northeast, also caused water to pile up in the back bays and along the oceanfront at high tide. Sustained wind - about 30 miles per hour - kept the water from receding at low tide and was expected to make the next two tides, on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, particularly dicey in some spots.

"This was no Sandy ... or even the Halloween storm of '92," recalled Jim Elliott, 72, a retiree who has lived in Ocean City's south end since 1990. "There's a little water in my garage this time around. But that's about it."

Elliott was among those marveling Saturday at the sight of a huge weather buoy that washed ashore along the 41st Street beach. The same thing happened, in the same spot, in 1992, he said.

Elliott and others were marooned for a time in Ocean City - a narrow, 10-mile long barrier island - because the four causeways and bridges were closed to vehicular traffic because of flooding for most of Saturday.

In Wildwood, Troiano said, a few feet of water washing in from the bay and covering several blocks of the town was practically catastrophic.

"We got a lot more flooding than what we were told to expect," he said. "I think it could be a record for Wildwood and North Wildwood."

Troiano said more than 75 people voluntarily evacuated from their homes along the bay front. Some were taken to a temporary warming center at Wildwood High School.

By Saturday evening, Atlantic City Electric reported 32,611 customers in Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland counties without power. Afternoon temperatures had already dipped into the chilly high 20s.

About 15,000 of the households and businesses without power were located in Cape May County. An additional 3,000 customers of Jersey Central Power & Light were without electricity in southern Ocean County, a spokesman said.

Utility officials said it could be a while before power could be restored because crews cannot mount utility poles or use bucket trucks to make repairs until winds fall below 40 m.p.h.

Ocean City resident Anita Pagano, 36, said her family lost power overnight Friday and her apartment was getting very cold.

"We've been huddled under blankets since last night, so we might have to go to a shelter where we can at least be a little more comfortable," Pagano said.

New Jersey State Police reported 222 crashes and 868 calls for vehicle assistance on Garden State roadways - including cars that had run off the road because of the icy conditions.

But it was the threat of more flooding and beach erosion that had most officials worried. After Saturday morning's floods, many said they were dreading a second round, with the 7:30 p.m. high tide on Saturday and a third round at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

"The feeling is that once we get past tonight, we'll be OK," said Diane F. Wieland, a spokeswoman for the Cape May County Office of Emergency Management. "But we are opening up the shelter in Woodbine - mostly as a warming station - to serve residents still without power."

All along the coast, more than a foot of water seeped from the bays over bulkheads and covered streets with icy rivers, police said.

While there was no travel ban in effect, officials were asking drivers to stay off the roads because conditions were unsafe, said Linda Gilmore, a spokeswoman for Atlantic County Emergency Management.

"I can't get home right now because they closed the bridge into Ocean City, so I guess I'm going to sit right here and drink my coffee," said Sam Johannson, 26, who was returning home from a friend's house Saturday morning but instead found himself in a diner parking lot. "Eventually the water will go down."

Margate Mayor Michael Becker said he, too, was optimistic.

Although his town was covered in about 2 feet of water washed in from the bay, he said, "I think overall we were very lucky."

Becker said that despite Gov. Christie's "shock effect" comments Saturday morning at a news conference in North Jersey, the Atlantic County resort town fared "very well in this storm." The governor had called the people of Margate and their attorneys "selfish" for refusing his plan to build high dunes along the town's beaches.

"The picture he showed behind him as he spoke was misguided and inappropriate because it was of water pouring in from the bay, not the ocean, and had nothing to do with our oceanfront or the dunes," Becker said. "Our oceanfront is just fine."

In October, the state filed paperwork to take the beachfront - mostly owned by the city - under eminent domain. But Margate officials and residents filed a countersuit against the state, saying the dunes will ultimately do more harm than good. At a Feb. 4 hearing, the city is expected to argue that the state abused its eminent domain power in its attempt to take 87 city-owned lots needed to construct the beachfront dune system, Becker said.

jurgo@phillynews.com

609-652-8382 @JacquelineUrgo