Coastal storm leaves behind beach erosion at the Jersey shore

Residents and homeowners up and down the Jersey Shore. Taking stock tonight of the damage done by a daysl long coastal storm. Relentless wind and pounding surf stirred up by the storm made for scenes like this. Huge swats of beach from Ocean City down to Cape May washed away. Many protective dunes now disappeared. Though damage to homes and businesses was thankfully minimal, now begins the work of rebuilding those beaches. New Jersey correspondent Trish Hartman with the story tonight from Strathmir. Officials in Strathmeir are once again pushing sand around after a storm ravaged the beaches. >> Preceding the storm, we had about a 14 high dune system that extended out about 20 25 ft towards the beach um that is completely eradicated. >> Back in August, crews had to scramble to rebuild beach paths before Labor Day due to severe erosion. The township administrator says officials are now extremely concerned about the homes along Neptune Drive without the protection of the dune. This evening, Upper Township officials will declare a local state of emergency, reaching out to county, state, and federal agencies for help. >> We can't do it oursel and we need help from others and we're going to be reaching out promptly. >> Property owners worry about future storms. >> Long-term uh these I think all the barrier islands could be in trouble. In Ocean City, >> we were pretty much house locked for 48 hours. >> As surfers tackled the chilly waves, people marveled at what's left of the beach at Sixth Street. The dunes, like there, you can't even walk down onto the beach anymore. It's so sad. >> It's pretty bad. They're going to have to do a lot of replenishment over this winter to get it back to being usable by the spring and summer. >> Ocean City's mayor says the city will move sand to fill the beaches north of Music Pier before next summer. Some residents say all this, the flooding and erosion is part of life at the shore. >> I'd rather be here than, you know, in Florida right now, you know, to see this. Yeah. To see the fury of the ocean. >> As for Army Corps of Engineers beach replenishment projects, those have not yet received federal funding. So, communities here at the shore are anxiously waiting for news on that. The state D inspectors to assess the beach erosion today. Preliminary reports on the damage should be available in a few days.