Winter Storm: Fears Of Flooding Hit Jersey Shore As Residents Experience Rare Significant Snowfall
BELMAR, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Flooding caused by Monday's nor'easter is a big concern on the Jersey Shore.
CBS2's Jessica Layton was on Ocean Avenue in Belmar and witnessed some serious waves. She said the wind and sleet hurt when they her face. Across the street on Ocean Avenue just about everything was closed up as people braced for more flooding Monday night.
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Getting down to the shore from Essex County was an uphill battle, Layton reported. The Garden State Parkway was treacherous at times. She reported seeing five spin-outs or crashes in 20 minutes. And as conditions worsened CBS2 caught on camera a caravan of plows driving slowly in West Long Branch.
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Route 35 in Belmar was reopened after it was closed for several hours Monday morning due to flooding. A combination of high tide at the Shark River, plus wind, rain and snow caused the river to overflow, wash over the barrier, and flood the route and residential streets. By 9 p.m., the water was rising again.
Carolina and Sean Winter live across from the river's banks.
"This time it was definitely deeper, just because the snow melting, I think, rose the bay up pretty significantly," Caroline Winter said. "They didn't close off the streets, so cars were just going through water splashing everywhere. Pretty crazy stuff."
There were similar problems in Manasquan and in Sea Bright, where plows were seen pushing rising water away from residential streets.
PHOTO GALLERY: Nor'easter Brings Heavy Snowfall To Tri-State
As miserable as it was in Belmar, people were out shoveling and salting their sidewalks knowing how dangerous it will be if the streets flood again and freeze over.
"The black ice might get dangerous, especially because it's shifting from snow to sleet to rain, I guess, overnight," resident Colleen Williams said. "The high tide was coming in earlier today and it was really washing in and making everything super flooded. It's definitely going to get dangerous as the night goes on."
"With all the snow and the plows, I think the water was blowing in from the east, water was running over the end of the boat ramp, over the beach, and it was flooding the street there, there was flooding down here," Sean Winter said.
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Caroline Winter told Layton despite the hazards the storm has caused, she does enjoy the snow. They woke up to four or five inches, something that doesn't happen in this part of New Jersey all that much.
CBS2's Jessica Layton contributed to this report
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