January 2018 Winter Storm "Bomb"
At the end of the first week of January 2018, the authorities declared a "double red flag" alert for 3 full days. This level of alert, which prohibits all driving and walking on the beach, because of strong undertows and very high waves, has apparently only been declared during hurricanes before. After spending 3 days strengthening off of New Smyrna Beach, the storm "bomb" continued to strengthen as it moved northwards leaving inches of snow in Savannah and even more snow in Charleston SC. Since neither city has snow removal or salting equipment, their streets and airports were closed for a couple of days.
Then, the storm strengthened to about the same level as Hurricane Sandy as it moved north up the coast creating blizzards from Chesapeake Bay to Canada's Maritime provinces.
On January 5, Daryl's 70th birthday, the winds dropped enough that Sandra and I decided to go for a "beach inspection" walk north from Castle Reef to the 27th Avenue park and back. There was a lot of shoreline damage in front of almost every property except Castle Reef.
The stairs to the beach were intact at Castle Reef; but the lowest two stairs were again exposed after years of being buried in the sand. The snow fencing (which used to come down to the sand dune) now hangs in the air above the flat lowered beach. Coming down the stairs on the north side, there was a modest unexpected "drop" to the beach.
All of the condominiums north of Castle Reef suffered damage from the storm. Here are the mangled stairs to the beach in front of Sea Coast Garden I (our neighbouring condominium immediately north of us). They were ripped off the sea wall.
In front of Sea Coast II and III, the root and trunk of a small tree were firmly embedded into the cracks in the sea wall by the waves. Modest tugs along the root at the 3 cracks in the sea wall, wouldn't loosen the embedded root from the sea wall.
Here is the ramp in front of the Moontide condominium. Not only has the bottom of the ramp been ripped off so the bottom 3 feet of stairs are gone, but the previously buried foundation posts (at my finger) for the ramp are now hanging in the air 2 feet above the new beach level.
North of the last condominium before 27th Avenue, the dunes were sheared off so there is now a 3 - 4 foot vertical drop from the edge of the sand dune to the new flat beach.
Sandra is inspecting the former pedestrian ramp from the 27th Avenue park down to the beach. The bottom 3 feet of the walkway are gone. Sea weed has been left on the ramp between 3 and 5 feet above the beach level. So, the waves hitting the shoreline during the storm must have been at least as high as Sandra is.
There used to be a cement ramp down to the beach for cars and bikes. The cement part of the ramp survived, but the former asphalt continuation of the ramp is now just a pile of scattered asphalt rubble. So, there is a 1 foot drop to the beach at the end of the surviving ramp. It will be a while before cars can once again drive down onto the beach for picnics near 27th Avenue.
As we walked up the 27th Avenue ramp from the beach, we found a pile of sea rubble about 8 feet above sea level. So, the waves that deposited them there must have been at least 8 feet high during the height of the storm.
At the end of our walk, I went to the Castle Reef office to pay my monthly maintenance fee. I mentioned to Cindy (our receptionist) that, at the height of the storm the waves hitting the shoreline must have been at least 8 feet high. She responded by saying that the condo staff had seen the crest of the waves come up to the top of our 10 foot sea wall and that sea water had overtopped our sea wall into our beachside pool.
The damage done by this 2018 winter storm "bomb" is likely a precursor to what we might expect if global climate change continues. Fortunately, our condo management had strengthened Castle Reef's shore line defences a few years ago. They withstood this severe storm well, but every other condo in the half mile north of us suffered some damage along the length of their shoreline.
Then, the storm strengthened to about the same level as Hurricane Sandy as it moved north up the coast creating blizzards from Chesapeake Bay to Canada's Maritime provinces.
On January 5, Daryl's 70th birthday, the winds dropped enough that Sandra and I decided to go for a "beach inspection" walk north from Castle Reef to the 27th Avenue park and back. There was a lot of shoreline damage in front of almost every property except Castle Reef.
Here is the view we saw when we reached the top of the stairs to our beach. Note that there are no sand dunes left at all and the beach to the north is completely flat right to our seawall.
All of the condominiums north of Castle Reef suffered damage from the storm. Here are the mangled stairs to the beach in front of Sea Coast Garden I (our neighbouring condominium immediately north of us). They were ripped off the sea wall.
In front of Sea Coast II and III, the root and trunk of a small tree were firmly embedded into the cracks in the sea wall by the waves. Modest tugs along the root at the 3 cracks in the sea wall, wouldn't loosen the embedded root from the sea wall.
Here is the ramp in front of the Moontide condominium. Not only has the bottom of the ramp been ripped off so the bottom 3 feet of stairs are gone, but the previously buried foundation posts (at my finger) for the ramp are now hanging in the air 2 feet above the new beach level.
North of the last condominium before 27th Avenue, the dunes were sheared off so there is now a 3 - 4 foot vertical drop from the edge of the sand dune to the new flat beach.
Sandra is inspecting the former pedestrian ramp from the 27th Avenue park down to the beach. The bottom 3 feet of the walkway are gone. Sea weed has been left on the ramp between 3 and 5 feet above the beach level. So, the waves hitting the shoreline during the storm must have been at least as high as Sandra is.
There used to be a cement ramp down to the beach for cars and bikes. The cement part of the ramp survived, but the former asphalt continuation of the ramp is now just a pile of scattered asphalt rubble. So, there is a 1 foot drop to the beach at the end of the surviving ramp. It will be a while before cars can once again drive down onto the beach for picnics near 27th Avenue.
As we walked up the 27th Avenue ramp from the beach, we found a pile of sea rubble about 8 feet above sea level. So, the waves that deposited them there must have been at least 8 feet high during the height of the storm.
At the end of our walk, I went to the Castle Reef office to pay my monthly maintenance fee. I mentioned to Cindy (our receptionist) that, at the height of the storm the waves hitting the shoreline must have been at least 8 feet high. She responded by saying that the condo staff had seen the crest of the waves come up to the top of our 10 foot sea wall and that sea water had overtopped our sea wall into our beachside pool.
The damage done by this 2018 winter storm "bomb" is likely a precursor to what we might expect if global climate change continues. Fortunately, our condo management had strengthened Castle Reef's shore line defences a few years ago. They withstood this severe storm well, but every other condo in the half mile north of us suffered some damage along the length of their shoreline.
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