See the damage done to your beach by last week's nor'easter

Much of the sand washed from the beaches is sitting offshore in a sand bar and eventually will be re-deposited onto the beach, but that happens gradually and won't necessarily make them wide enough to withstand the next storm, officials said.

Last weekend's prolonged nor'easter didn't spare many of New Jersey's beaches, but the storm saved its heaviest damage for the more vulnerable areas, where the beaches, already thin ribbons of sand, virtually disappeared.

The findings, outlined in a state Department of Environmental Protection report and based on inspections of the coastline earlier this week, highlight the damage caused by wind-whipped waves that for more than two days pounded a Shore still trying to recover from Hurricane Sandy.

Beaches in Monmouth County that recently were widened in a multi-million dollar federal beach proaction project generally did well, according to the report. But in northern Ocean County, where beach replenishment has been delayed by pockets of resistance, the beaches still feeling the effects of Sandy were severely eroded to the point that some are virtually non-existent.

"We just dodged a bullet that was going to come through - a hurricane - but we still got hit with a pretty bad nor'easter along this coastline," DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said on Friday morning in Neptune Township where he was announcing a river dredging project. "What we're seeing and what we've seen from that storm is a lot of destruction along the coastline."

What made the storm particularly damaging was its duration, said Stewart Farrell, director of the Coastal Research Center at Stockton University. Instead of having to endure a single high tide during a quick-moving nor'easter, New Jersey beaches were battered by four high tides over two days, he said.

Much of that sand washed from the beaches is sitting offshore in a sand bar and eventually will be re-deposited onto the beach, but that happens gradually and won't necessarily make them wide enough to withstand the next storm - especially if it comes soon, Farrell said.

And with scientists predicting this year is ripe for a strong El Nino, Farrell said that warming of the Pacific Ocean on the West Coast would most likely result in more nor'easters for the East Coast.

"It's an El Nino year, " Farrell said. "There will be a next one."

Bay Head and Mantoloking, which were among the hardest hit Shore communities during Sandy in 2012, were again among the most heavily damaged during the nor'easter. The beaches that were anywhere from 50 to 80 feet wide before the weekend storm disappeared altogether in some spots after the nor'easter.  And where some beach survived, it was no wider than 20 feet, according to the report. Dunes were eroded up to 10 feet.

The nor'easter left a dramatic visual in Mantoloking and neighboring Brick Township - a steel wall with a 15-foot drop at its highest point at the edge of the ocean. The wall had been covered with sand after it was installed last year to prevent an ocean breach in that area. But because that section hasn't yet been widened by a planned replenishment project by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the ocean has gradually eaten away at the sand on the east side of the wall. The nor'easter only made it worse. And so will every subsequent storm, Farrell said.

"There will be sand coming back. They'll push sand. But as long as the wall gets hit by every storm, that will happen," Farrell said. "It's going to be a perpetual problem. Beach access is going to be very difficult."

A nor'easter pounds Ortley Beach with rain and high winds. 11:46 am close to high Saturday, October, 3, 2015 (Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)  

In the Ortley Beach section of Toms River, 50 to 80 feet of dry sand disappeared in some places, leaving that shoreline with either no beach or one that is 15 feet wide at the most.

Long Beach Island had a few hot spots. In southern Brant Beach between 72^nd and 77^th avenues, and in Haven Beach between 106 and 11^8th avenues, beaches as wide as 125 feet to 175 feet wide were either wiped out or reduced to 25 feet. There were cuts in the dunes there as high as 15 feet, the report said.

The storm unburied about 350 feet of a geotube that had been buried in Beach Haven between Leeward and Merrivale avenues to help build dunes and it wiped out the beach, which was only 25 to 35 feet wide.

The Holgate section of Long Beach Township - the very end of the island - had been devastated during Sandy and is awaiting beach replenishment. The nor'easter took chunks as high as 5 feet out of the thin dunes for about 3,000 feet. The report noted that there is "very little buffer" now between the dune remnants on the oceanfront homes directly behind them.

In Atlantic City, the beach at Metropolitan Avenue dwindled from one that was between 50 to 70 feet wide to one that is now only 15 to 25 feet wide. A third of the dunes constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between Garden Pier and Victoria Avenue are gone, the report said.

Aerial view of work on 82nd Street in Sea Isle City. Many towns along the Jersey Shore have been hit hard by the most recent nor'easters and have experienced significant beach erosion. 10/5/15 (Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)  

Beaches in Sea Isle City also grew narrower after the storm. Where they used to be around 160 to 180 feet wide between 29^th and 34^th streets, they are now just 50 to 80 feet.

Avalon beaches were chopped in half by the nor'easter, going from 120 to 180 feet wide to just 40 to 70 feet.

And in North Wildwood, the nor'easter took bigger chunks out of the dunes and the beach. Where 3.5 blocks of dunes had been eroded up to 8 feet high, now that dune erosion runs 5.5 blocks and the erosion is up to 12 to 15 feet high. Beaches went from 20 to 30 feet wide to disappearing in some spots and only up to 20 feet in other areas.

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.