East End towns clean up, assess nor'easter erosion damage

East End towns are assessing widespread erosion and cleaning up debris after the strong early season nor’easter that pummeled the shoreline with powerful winds, strong surf and heavy rain over the weekend.

Strong winds coupled with between 3 and 5 inches of rain and a full moon intensified coastal flooding, bringing down trees, churning debris onto the shoreline and eroding beaches on both the North and South forks.

The financial impact of the storm is unknown, officials said, as they continue to assess the damage and hope beach sands naturally restore before the next major storm hits Long Island.

There was “widespread beach erosion” but “spotty” dune erosion at South Fork ocean beaches, said Aram Terchunian, a coastal geologist based in Westhampton Beach who tracks storm erosion in the area. “We had an exceptionally wide beach going into the storm, so the beach protected the dune,” he said.

Erosion was the worst west of Shinnecock Inlet, where offshore wave heights peaked around 19 feet, Terchunian said. Storm surge in East End bays was about 5.2 feet above sea level. Those statistics placed the storm as about a 10- or 15-year storm, he said.

At Tiana Beach in Hampton Bays, “pretty much the entire beach and dune was lost all the way up to the pavilion on the ocean side,” said Ryan Murphy, Southampton Town’s emergency management administrator.

Flooding caused a portion of Dune Road to close on Saturday, Newsday previously reported.

“We had overwash in that area where water was cresting over the top of the dunes. We had sand go out into the roadway as a result of that water pushing the sand over at the top of the dune,” Murphy said.

The importance of dunes

The dune there is important because it helps protect the major commercial fishing dock just west of the inlet, Murphy said.

“It's important to the overall maritime economy of the state right there,” he said.

Beaches in East Hampton lost a lot of sand, but dunes remained standing, Deputy Town Supervisor David Lys said in an interview.

“I am hoping that they will heal in the next couple weeks and months prior to the traditional nor'easters time frame,” he added.

The storm damaged some bluffs and dunes on the bay side of Montauk, but many of those areas are fortified with jetties and embankments, Lys said.

The storm created a 6- to 8-foot “clifflike drop” at Hither Hills State Park in Montauk, according to Long Island regional state parks director George Gorman. He reported moderate erosion at Montauk Point and Camp Hero state parks and significant erosion at Wildwood State Park in Wading River.

Orient Point State Park reopened Tuesday after crews added 1,500 cubic yards of sand to protect vulnerable sections of an access road, Gorman said.

Southold mostly spared

Southold Town officials said they were spared the worst of the erosion impacts.

Long Island Sound waters pounded an already-eroded Lt. George R. Sullivan Town Beach, sending water into the parking lot, according to Southold Supervisor Al Krupski. That beach was closed to bathing after a round of winter storms wiped away sand and part of an asphalt parking lot this winter.

Krupski said the long-term plan is to elevate the road and properly armor the parking lot to preserve beach access. But sand replenishment projects are futile and a similar effort two years ago failed.

“What a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Krupski said Tuesday. “We had all that sand piled up … and it disappeared in a day.”

The nor’easter also displaced sand at Riverhead beaches, according to Police Chief Ed Frost. Several beach access steps were wiped out at the end of Oakleigh Avenue, but no major structural damage was reported, he said. “Some regrading of the beach has to be done,” Frost said Tuesday.

The waves dumped significant debris along the coastline, which crews were still cleaning up Tuesday, he said.