John Goslee chatting with Eileen on Mt. Zion Way. Paul Goldfinger photo. 2 days after Sandy hit on Oct 29, 2012.
By Eileen and Paul Goldfinger
We met Grover John Goslee while he was cleaning up near the Great Auditorium after the storm. He was raking the neighbors’ properties on Mt. Zion Way.
One of his jobs is to take care of some homes for people who are away. While he was checking their houses, he emptied their refrigerators and freezers. The food was destined to spoil due to the power outage.
So John took the food to a fire house in town, and the firemen cooked it up for people who didn’t have food.
Mr. John Goslee is a carpenter whose card says, “No job too small.” 914- 262 -5673 (2012)
“Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
If you want the things you love
You must have showers
So when you hear it thunder
Don’t run under a tree
There’ll be pennies from heaven
For you and me”
BILLIE HOLIDAY From the album: Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday on Columbia. “Pennies from Heaven” is from the 1936 movie of the same name. Music by Arthur Johnston; words by Johnny Burke. First performed in the film by Bing Crosby.
Screenshot from JOH. Fishing clubhouse disappears into the deluge.
1992 nor’easter along the east coast. National Weather Service depiction.
JOH of Ocean Grove sent us a video link showing the fishing pier coming down during the 1992 nor’easter—-see below:
It is good to remember important events in our town’s history, because we all can learn from history and it gives us the opportunity to talk about the OG fishing pier (currently the non-fishing pier as its remnant remains land bound on the OG beach. See comments linked below) —–Paul Goldfinger, editor @Blogfinger December, 2015.
News story from Newswork:
An intense nor’easter struck New Jersey 23 years ago today, generating some of the worst damage since the Ash Wednesday storm of 1962
Dubbed “The Great Nor’easter” by the National Weather Service, the storm, which forced the evacuation in at least 20 Jersey Shore municipalities, destroyed sections of the Bradley Beach and Belmar boardwalks and swept away a significant chunk of the Ocean Grove fishing pier, according to a New York Times report.
As the storm surge peaked and wind gusts increased during the morning hours, small private boats were called to rescue some from houses along the Manasquan River, as drawbridges ceased to function due to power outages and Coast Guard boats could not access the area, the report said.
According to the report, some residents in low-lying areas in Monmouth, Ocean, and Atlantic counties were evacuated by police boats and National Guard trucks.
The National Weather Service found that the storm “resulted in unprecedented flooding and coastal erosion, which may have permanently changed the coastline.”
The flooding lasted for days. The National Weather Service report stated that the hardest hit coastal areas included Union Beach, Atlantic Highlands, Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach, Sea Girt, Long Beach Island, and Longport.
“As a result of the full moon on December 9 and an unusually long storm duration that affected several tide cycles, the resulting tide caused the most severe flooding along the New Jersey coast in nearly 30 years,” a U.S. Geological Survey study found.
In Union Beach, 300 cars were destroyed by sea water and 690 houses were damaged, according to the National Weather Service report.
The highest wind gusts of the storm was recorded in Cape May, peaking at 80 miles per hour. The storm killed two in New Jersey, damaged 3,200 homes, and caused $750 million (1992 dollars) in damage.
Portions of the state were declared a federal disaster area.
What do you remember? My house shook, but had no significant damage or flooding. I recall the sights when we went down to the beachfront on the morning of October 30, 2012. People hesitatingly came down to see. We had seen the horrible images of places like Mantoloking on television, so we knew that we were lucky—lucky to not live on a barrier island.
Ocean Grove has some low areas, such as the southeast precinct where flooding occured, but much of the rest of the town had enough elevation to avoid water damage. A couple of days later a solitary surf fisherman came from out of town just to fish in Ocean Grove, a place that he loved.
Now, most of our boardwalk is complete except for the North End and the pier. We are better prepared now with dunes and bulkheads. The boardwalk was specially engineered to be extra strong. Many homeless victims who needed a place to stay came to the Grove. Some of them remained for quite a while, and there are probably some who are still around town. We cannot ever forget the volunteers who showed up, often with everything they needed including food and they gave and they asked for nothing in return.
On December 9, 2014, the Jersey Shore got blasted by a nor’easter which produced several inches of rain and high winds. We went down to the Ocean Grove beach and found the beach and dunes to appear a bit wasted.
Four days ago, NJTV News posted a report from Mantoloking, Bay Head, and Ortley Beach (Toms River) regarding the sand and dune losses at those beach towns. All three had less damage to their beaches than what might have occurred if they hadn’t provided post-Sandy protections, including a steel wall, a rock wall with 7 ton boulders, and a huge dune respectively.
In Ocean Grove, the Camp Meeting Association has been engineering the new beachfront to provide protections from future storms, including our own steel bulkhead, new dunes, and a new strong boardwalk design.
We contacted William Bailey, Director of Operations at the OGCMA, and this is his reply:
“Paul, the nor’easter caused minimal sand loss, and we anticipate that it will once again build back up. The “sad” dune photo you posted was of the south end dune that was established in the months following the hurricane. That dune has remained as it is now, with little change other than more sand accumulating.
“The new dune process is from the Pier towards the boardwalk pavilion or between Heck and McClintock St. Those dunes were not affected by the nor’easter; in fact the newly established dunes along with the sand fence recently installed collected sand as designed, thus you will note there was no sand blown on the boardwalk or roadway.
“The dune work will be on going over the next year as more sand fence is installed and then dune grass plantings in the fall of 2015.”
William H Bailey
Director of Operations
AL JOLSON: (we’re sending this out to Susan and Jim of OG who themselves are soon heading for the Golden State)
John Goslee chatting with Eileen on Mt. Zion Way. Paul Goldfinger photo. 2 days after Sandy hit on Oct 29, 2012.
