COURT HOUSE – Winter Storm Jonas jolted Cape May County and the rest of the East Coast beginning Jan. 22. It was a storm with plenty of advance warning. Even so, some residents waited until rescuers had to wade through flood waters to help them.
Flooding, worsened by a full moon and heavy northeast winds which neared 65 mph at times, made conditions worse, for many barrier island residents, than Superstorm Sandy.
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno visited Stone Harbor and North Wildwood Jan. 25 to assess damage. Both municipalities sustained heavy damage by wave and flooding, although none along the coastline was spared, Cape May to Ocean City.
Middle Township police issued a report that all low-lying areas of the municipality sustained flooding damage. Wildwood police alerted residents to George Redding Bridge closings due to high water. At times, when North Wildwood Boulevard was closed due to flooding, the only access to the Five Mile Beach was via Middle Thorofare Bridge from Lower Township.
See photos from this weekend’s storm: Click Here
Gov. Chris Christie issued a state of emergency, and he returned to the state Nov. 22 from his presidential bid in New Hampshire. He held a press conference Jan. 23 in Sayreville, but did not travel to Cape May County.
While storm damage was still being assessed Jan. 25, residents and businesses did their collective best to resume normalcy. Vacuums, fans, mops and buckets were the order of the day for many. The county opened shelters in Upper Township and Woodbine at the height of the storm to accommodate evacuees from north and south parts of the county.
Social media played an important role in showing the outside world the conditions on barrier islands. Chunks of ice flowed through flooded Sea Isle City streets.
Firefighters from that city summoned mutual aid from Ocean View, Court House and Rio Grande battling a fire at 42nd Street and Landis Avenue that destroyed the Avalon Bagel store Jan. 23 first reported about 11:45 a.m. Flooding caused responding engines to take the least harmful route to the scene.
At 8:30 a.m. Atlantic City Electric’s outage map reported over 20,000 without power. Additional outages were expected as the storm raged, sending snow over the area.
Sea Isle City firefighters were summoned to help evacuate residents from the Atrium Building about 9:13 a.m. Jan. 23. Responding firefighters said they needed dry suits to wade through chest-high water to get to the people. At 9:36 a.m. a boat carrying firefighters attired in survival suits was ready for the rescue.
Shortly after 10 a.m. in North Wildwood, at 24th and Delaware avenues, there was a report of a transformer on fire.
At 10:07 a.m. Middle Township police issued an advisory that Stone Harbor, North Wildwood, Avalon and Wildwood boulevards were impassable due to flooding. “Please stay off roadways,” it stated.
At 10:30 a.m. Court House firefighters were dispatched to a home on Meadowview Road in Avalon Manor for “A high-water rescue.”
National news media carried images of various places in the county, Ocean City, Stone Harbor, North Wildwood and Sea Isle City.
Crews from Atlantic City Electric worked throughout the storm in an effort to restore power whenever possible.
Emergency managers from throughout the county will tally the damage, including beach restoration projects, recently completed, decimated by the storm.
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