Angry Bay Washes Away Foundations

VILLAS- Fred Swope is glad he and his neighbors built a seawall behind their homes four years ago. The back of their properties fronting Delaware Bay are in fine shape. Three other homes in the neighborhood weren’t so lucky.
Swope’s home at 19 Redwood Avenue backs onto the beach. He said the process of getting an approval from the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to build a wall behind his home took about one year. He doesn’t call Hurricane Sandy the worst storm to erode the beach behind his home.
Swope said some fall storms during a new moon can do a lot of damage with high tides like a November nor’easter four years ago.
While some back bay communities suffered damage after the eye of Hurricane Sandy passed over the northern part of our county and the wind switched to the west, Swope said the 8 a.m. high tide early in the hurricane produced the highest waves along the bay in Villas.
That tide torn out steps down to the beach on Redwood Avenue, said Swope.
“You’ve got to be here to see and experience the power of water,” he said.
Ownership of the wall was turned over to the township since it is on municipal property, he said. Swope said the cost of the wall was more than $500 a linear foot.
“You borrow that money and spend it or you don’t have a house,” he said.
Swope said his bags were packed and he was prepared to evacuate during the hurricane but he rode out the storm.
“When the direction of the tide and the wind are going the same way, you’re going to get it in that storm situation,” he said.
Without the seawall, Swope is convinced he would have lost his sunroom and the back of his house up to his kitchen. The rain was so hard, water was seeping through sliding glass doors, he said.
A home at 17 Rosewood Avenue lost a portion of its lawn fronting the beach. A seawall protected most of the property.
A house at 513 Village Rd. has an orange condemned sticker on the front door preventing occupancy of the house until repairs are made. The home’s foundation was eroded by storm tides.
Beach access at Rosewood and Redwood avenues is closed due to a sharp drop off.
Wildwood Avenue beach access is closed. A dune there washed out taking a sewer line with it.
Matt Ecker, executive director for Lower Township Municipal Utilities Authority, at a Nov. 7 board of commissioners meeting, said an 8-inch main serving two homes ran parallel to the bay and was carried away by the storm. Emergency repairs were underway Nov. 9.
Ecker said a claim was made to FEMA and the authority’s insurance carrier.
Lower Township Manager Michael Voll said homeowners affected by erosion have contacted FEMA. He said the public works would try to push back some of the sand behind the houses, as much as permitted by DEP.