Cliffwood Beach Waterfront Before Hurricane Irene

For contrast, here are some pictures of Cliffwood Beach at low tide on that sunny day just before Hurricane Irene.

Teen Who Died in Old Bridge Remembered in Wilkes-Barre

The Wilkes-Barre Time Leader reported today on the death of seventeen-year-old Erick McDonald, whose lifeless body was pulled from Raritan Bay at Cliffwood Beach (Old Bridge) early Saturday morning, four days after he was reported missing. The paper reports that the young man had been hit hard by the death of his father in Pennsylvania in mid July. Erick, whose parents were not together, had been living with his father for about a month when he died in July. Before that he had been living with his grandmother. Erick reportedly told a friend that he was heading to New Jersey to attend a concert with a friend. Erick's mother lives in New Jersey. NJ.com et al reported that Erick was from Old Bridge.

NJ Transit Goes Overboard With Public Address System

NJ Transit is going overboard with their public address system today. I realize they've been dinged on communications but this morning's customers face an abundance of announcements that are on the verge of annoying. We are getting separate reports on the status of each line into and out of the city, plus reports on each train due into the station. I'm currently getting separate reports on the 737, 802 and 815 am trains into NY, plus the status of a couple of westbounds, plus the status of each direction's trains overall - maybe 8 announcements per 10 min period. Enough already!

Many Northern Monmouth/Middlesex County Residents Still Without Power Tuesday

Thousands of people in our area remain without power this morning, according to statistics published by First Energy Corp, the parent company of JCP&L. A quick drive around Cliffwood Beach yesterday afternoon revealed a number of generators humming and wires running from house to house to share power. We drove out to Chili's in Holmdel yesterday but the lot was empty. There was a sign out front that said they had no power. We drove to Applebee's in Middletown, which was open.

A partial list of outages as of 6:05 am today appears below:

• Aberdeen - 319
• Cliffwood - 16
• Cliffwood Beach - 984
• Freehold - 5,325
• Hazlet - 1,507
• Holmdel - 2,656
• Keansburg - 170
• Keyport - 212
• Laurence Harbor - 182
• Marlboro - 1,996
• Matawan - 4,741
• Middletown - 3,394
• Morganville - 2,326
• Old Bridge - 392
• Parlin - 266
• Red Bank - 3,725 
• Sayreville - 87
• South Amboy - 290
• Spotswood - 1,516
• Union Beach -18

South Amboy residents were still boiling their city water as of yesterday afternoon. The water main that broke was fixed by 1 pm yesterday, restoring water pressure.

Getting around was still difficult yesterday afternoon with traffic lights out of order at many intersections. Trees still hung across streets in Navesink and Navesink River Road was blocked, forcing us to drive across the Oceanic Bridge to Rumson. Trouble with the Lake Lefferts dam in Matawan caused the closing of a portion of Ravine Drive in Matawan.

Cliffwood Beach Waterfront After Hurricane Irene

Here are some shots of the Cliffwood Beach waterfront in the wake of Hurricane Irene. There's been some serious erosion. New water channels even seem to be forming.

The dunes were seriously eroded by the tidal surge during the storm. This cutaway is about two feet high.

Some mounds of sand have been removed from Lakeshore Drive and piled in a gap in the dune.

The mounds of sand that were brought in over the past few months were washed away. (View is eastward from Lakeshore)

A channel formed between the bay and Lakeshore Drive during the storm.

Tidal pools formed in new channel.

Old tires, metal, and stone have been exposed.

Another channel has been forming for months. It runs between the beach and the outlet between Treasure Lake and Whale Creek. It runs parallel to the dirt road that runs between Greenwood Avenue and the beach.

A layer of dune sand has settled on the basketball courts in the beachfront park.

Matawan Starbucks Aids Red Cross Shelter In Wake of Irene

The Starbucks shop in Matawan provided food and drink for an American Red Cross disaster shelter at Colts Neck High School on Sunday when logistics made it difficult for the Red Cross to supply the shelter themselves. Laurie Creed, the store manager at Starbucks in Matawan, opened her shop, made gallons and gallons of coffee, raided her stash of Starbucks goodies, threw in boxes of bananas, and provided all of these goods for free to help out the victims of Hurricane Irene. Aberdeen NJ Life applauds Starbucks' continued support of our greater community. I hope you will drop in and thank Laurie for her shop's service.

News 12 New Jersey Earns Points With Audience

I switched from CNN and The Weather Channel to News 12 New Jersey when the storm neared New Jersey last night and kept it tuned to News 12 all Saturday night and well into Sunday. And I suspect I wasn't the only one.

News 12 New Jersey, which is under new management, seems to have earned some much needed audience trust during this hurricane. I don't think their attempt to imitate national storm coverage was very successful, but they were in their element when they didn't focus on their correspondents out in the elements. I think viewers really liked the participatory aspects of the broadcast. Viewer reports and testimonials were clearly endearing to the audience, based on the unsolicited praise from caller after caller to the show on Sunday.

I'm not convinced that News 12 is a journalistic powerhouse, nor do I think they can claim to represent New Jersey when their weather maps don't even include portions of the state south of Ocean County. But they've gained some audience support these past couple of days. Perhaps this will give them a chance to sort out their mandate and get properly established?

Downed Tree on Ravine Drive in Matawan

This video contains footage of a big tree that fell on Ravine Drive in Matawan. There is also footage of the nearby dam on Lake Lefferts. Matawan-Aberdeen Patch has the latest on the dam, which apparently suffered considerably during the storm. Ravine Drive is apparently in trouble. I'd been wondering how the dam fared, especially since it is scheduled to be replaced soon.

Aftermath of Hurricane Irene at Cliffwood Beach

We're just about done with Hurricane Irene here in Cliffwood Beach. I took a walk around West Concourse and Greenwood Avenue. We're still not supposed to drive about town but some folks have been doing so anyway.

Fallen branch in front of Bayview Church manse on West Concourse.

The park on Lakeshore Drive at Cliffwood Beach is flooded. Some young men walking up Greenwood Avenue return from the beach with a surfboard.

The water was flowing out (to the right)

The dirt road off Greenwood Avenue that provides access to the beachfront was flooded with up to a foot of water. The surrounding woods was full of water.

A powerline was down on Greenwood Avenue, forcing the closing of the road. People out sightseeing had to turn around in the adjoining driveway.

The house at the corner of West Concourse and Greenwood Avenue has a tree resting on the roof.