Coastal Flood in New Jersey, August 20 to 21, 1997

Very strong onshore winds coupled with torrential rain, that nearly coincided with high tide along the back bays caused moderate tidal flooding along the barrier islands of Atlantic, Cape May and Ocean Counties. The high tide at Atlantic City on the ocean side peaked at 7.7 feet above mean low water at about 11 p.m. EDT on the 20th. This was a departure of about 2.7 feet above normal. In Cape May County, street flooding was reported in the Wildwoods. In Atlantic County, widespread flooding occurred in Absecon at the intersection of U.S. Routes 9 and 30. This flooded the entire inventory of Ditmare Motor Works and the Absecon True Value Hardware store at that intersection. In Ocean County, moderate flooding was reported from Point Pleasant Beach to Seaside Park. On Long Beach Island, Long Beach Township reported five cars became stuck in the rising water. In Ship Bottom, four roads had to be closed because of tidal flooding. Some roads were also closed in Surf City. Heavy rain made it difficult to differentiate between the tidal and just poor drainage flooding, especially in Atlantic and Ocean Counties. While heavier rain fell inland storm totals along the coast included 6.75 inches in Beach Haven, 6.6 inches in Harvey Cedars, 5.51 inches at the Marina in Atlantic City and 4.55 inches in Margate. In addition to the flooding, some beach erosion did occur in Atlantic City and Cape May City. The erosion was bad enough to totally remove the sand and expose the large rocks that were covered by the previous beach replenishment project in Cape May City.