The wrath of two Sandys: north and south of the eye
-
Workers use heavy machinery to clean up damage from superstorm Sandy Tuesday morning, Oct. 29, 2012, in Cape May, N.J., after a storm surge from Sandy pushed the Atlantic Ocean over the beach and across Beach Avenue. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
-
<p>A house that broke from its piers, front, during the storm rests against a neighboring house on Long Beach Island, N.J., Friday, Nov. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)</p>
-
<p>President Obama, left, embraces Donna Vanzant, right, on Oct. 31, 2012 in Brigantine, N.J. Vanzant is a owner of North Point Marina, which was damaged by the storm. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)</p>
-
<p>This aerial photo shows on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, in Seaside Heights, N.J. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)</p>
-
<p>Seaside Heights, N.J., on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, Pool)</p>
-
This photo made available by the New Jersey Governor's Office, shows a flooding in Belmar, N.J. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012 after superstorm Sandy made landfall in New Jersey Monday evening. (AP Photo/New Jersey Governor's Office, Tim Larsen)
-
<p>Seaside Heights, N.J. before, left, and after Superstorm Sandy passed through the area on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/GeoEye)</p>
-
<p>This is boat washed onto at dock by superstorm Sandy in Ship Bottom on Long Beach Island, N.J. on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Robert Ray)</p>
-
The view of storm damage over the Atlantic Coast in Seaside Heights, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, from a helicopter traveling behind the helicopter carrying President Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, as they viewed storm damage from superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, Pool)
-
The aerial view shows storm damage over the Atlantic Coast in Seaside Heights, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, taken from a helicopter traveling behind the helicopter carrying President Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, as they viewed storm damage from superstorm Sandy. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, The New York Times, Pool)
-
A woman stands alone on the boardwalk Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Ocean City, N.J., as she photographs sea foam that washed up from the storm surge of Sandy. The storm that made landfall in New Jersey on Monday evening with 80 mph sustained winds killed at least 16 people in seven states, cut power to more than 7.4 million homes and businesses from the Carolinas to Ohio, caused scares at two nuclear power plants and stopped the presidential campaign cold. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
-
<p>Waves wash over a roller coaster from a Seaside Heights, N.J. amusement park that fell in the Atlantic Ocean during superstorm Sandy on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)</p>
-
<p>Lamar Stevens, bottom left, looks out at a boardwalk that was destroyed by superstorm Sandy in Atlantic City, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)</p>
-
A street sign is partially buried in sand Tuesday morning, Oct. 30, 2012, in Cape May, N.J., after a storm surge from Sandy pushed the Atlantic Ocean over the beach and across Beach Avenue. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
-
<p>Foundations and pilings are all that remain of brick buildings and a boardwalk in Atlantic City, N.J., Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)</p>
-
An oceanfront home is destroyed in Mantoloking, N.J., on Oct. 31, 2012. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
-
<p>In this photo made available by the New Jersey Governor's Office, a building sits in the middle of the road in Belmar, N.J. on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/New Jersey Governor's Office, Tim Larsen)</p>
-
<p>Lucy the Elephant in Margate, N.J. got her feet wet but she sustained no structural damage. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)</p>
-
Bill Goldberg shovels mud from the driveway of his home in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. on Thursday, Nov. 1, 2012. Flooding from Hurricane Sandy inundated his home, and Gioldberg fears he'll have to strip the house down to its wood foundation and rebuild from scratch. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
-
<p>This aerial photo made from a helicopter shows storm damage from Sandy over the Atlantic Coast in Mantoloking, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, Pool)</p>
-
A boat that was carried by surge from Superstorm Sandy sits on a deserted street on Long Beach Island, N.J., Friday, Nov. 2, 2012. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
-
Brian Hajeski, 41, of Brick, N.J., reacts after looking at debris of a home that washed up on to the Mantoloking Bridge the morning after superstorm Sandy rolled through, Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2012, in Mantoloking, N.J. Sandy, the storm that made landfall Monday, caused multiple fatalities, halted mass transit and cut power to more than 6 million homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
-
<p>Before and after of the Funtime Pier in Seaside Heights, N.J. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) Bottom (AP Photo/Star-Ledger, David Gard/POOL)</p>
-
<p>The Revel on Tuesday, Oct 30, 2012 stands in sharp contrast to one of the hardest hit regions of Atlantic City. (Bas Slabbers/for NewsWorks)</p>
-
<p><span style="color: #dedbd7; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #403f41;">A paddle-wheel boat beached in Somer's Point the morning after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, Tuesday, October 30, 2012. (Tom MacDonald/WHYY)</span></p>
-
<p><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: #ffffff;">Power lines block Ocean Drive in Longport, New Jersey, Tuesday, October 30, 2012. (Tom MacDonld/WHYY)</span></p>
As Hurricane Sandy approached the mid-Atlantic region, meterologists keep focusing on where exactly the eye of the storm would hit.
The reason has proven to be an obvious one: Sandy North and Sandy South had radically different effects on New Jersey’s beach towns.
“This was going from bad to disaster,” said meteorologist Tom Thunstrom, founder of Phillyweather.net, of the destruction moving from South Jersey shores to North.
Sandy made landfall right around Ocean City. Towns south of the eye experienced heavy rains – up to 10 inches in some places – and a strong north/northwest wind. This, on top of the storm hitting at a full moon high tide, pushed water onto the barrier islands from the bays. That’s why on the tiny barrier island town of Strathmere, the oceanfront homes were relatively untouched – even where the ocean breached dunes and seawalls – while many bayfront homes suffered severe damage.
The other side of Sandy was almost a different storm. Towns north of the the eye got very little rain – an inch to half an inch in most spots, said Thunstrom. However, northern towns suffered exponentially more damage because of the storm surge, which rushed from the ocean south, combined with 70, 80, 90 mile per hour east winds to pushing that water onto the shore. Hard. “It ended up being a total trainwreck,” said Thunstrom.
So while the amusement piers in Wildwood sustained nearly zero damage, the roller coaster from Seaside’s Casino Pier is in the ocean.
“If Bethany Beach [in Delaware] had been the landfall point, everyone would have been screwed,” said Thunstrom.
This isn’t to make light of the damage to the southern shores. Many homes and unhabitable; businesses destroyed. As I’ve said to almost anyone who’s asked me about Sandy, “lucky,” is a relatively term. But, hard as it is to imagine, it could have been much worse.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.