A nor'easter continued to batter Monmouth and Ocean counties through the early Saturday morning. Watch video
As high tide arrived in Ortley Beach shortly before midnight on Friday, waves slammed against the mounds of sand that were essentially the last line of defense in keeping the Atlantic Ocean away from the homes on the other side.
Earlier in the day, heavy machinery was on the beach building up the piles of sand in preparation for the approaching nor'easter.
By midnight, the ocean had overrun the beach and was chipping away at the tall sand buffer.
Jersey Shore Hurricane News reported that emergency sand berming was held in Ortley Beach overnight.
MORE: Thousands of N.J. residents without power in nor'easter's wake
The dunes were still seemingly intact at sunrise, however the waves were still within yards and with high tide still a few hours away.
Many curious storm watchers flocked to beachfronts and boardwalks, such as Seaside Park's, during high tide to get a glimpse of Mother Nature in action.
"We love the weather. Every time something crazy happens we love to go check it out," said Brick Township resident Michael Hingos, who stopped by Seaside Park with his wife, Lori, a couple times on Friday to witness the nor'easter in action. "I think it was Halloween of '91when we had an October storm and I would say that this is kind of similar. High tide isn't for another hour and the ocean is already getting pretty close (to the boardwalk)."
"This is incredible," Lori Hingos said. "The waves are amazing right now, and they're coming right up."
Elsewhere, the overnight tidal surge intensified lingering flooding problems.
Afternoon flooding in Tuckerton caused multiple road closures and stranded at least one resident who was later rescued from his car by emergency crews. At 1 a.m., as the tide flowed back in, flooding on the side streets of the city's main drag grew deeper.
Meanwhile, in places like Sea Bright, Highlands and Manasquan, flooding from the overnight high tide seemed comparable, if not slightly less than, Friday's after noon high tide.
Sea Bright's side streets and portions of Ocean Avenue were still flooded, but these flooding instances did not appear to be significantly worse than the flooding from the earlier high tide cycle.
However, the heavy rain and winds that pounded the region also caused several roads - including Route 33 in Neptune, Route 35 in Eatontown and Belmar, and Route 71 in West Long Branch - to be closed due to flooding, New Jersey 101.5 reported.
There were also several down tree branches reported throughout Monmouth and Ocean counties. But as of 7:30 a.m., there were less than 300 power outage in both counties combined, according to Jersey Central Power & Light and Atlantic City Electric.
High tide is expected to return to some shore communities at around noon today on the oceanfront and then shortly after that along the bays and rivers.
--NJ Advance Media's Vernal Coleman and Brian Donohue contributed to this report.
Rob Spahr may be reached at rspahr@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TheRobSpahr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.