Are you for real? This was the worst storm, flooding ectera NJ has ever , ever had. No human could of done anything the days before you dolt. Get back under your rock.

exactly...people are always looking for someone else to blame. You live near water. Bad storm involving water hit your home=damaged home. Natural disasters are just that, natural! Was it the army corps of engineers that failed to properly construct the levees in new Orleans...or was it the fact that New Orleans is BELOW SEA LEVEL, and is NEXT TO THE SEA, and Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic storm. Stop looking for a scape goat people.

It had NOTHING to do with any preparation that was or wasn't done before the storm...It was the dunes in Seaside Park that have been there for years that saved those homes...and the dunes were strengthened by the plant growth and their roots...

Mark put down the crack pipe....This was a hurrican. Matter-of-fact Ortley didn't want the dunes. So get off your soap box.

There was NOTHING man could have done to prevent this, Mother Nature ALWAYS claims back what ever we do to keep her out !!!!! This will happen again...trust me on this one ! Build back and build high if you want to be near the water...and that doesn't mean YOU will win , but maybe the damage won't be as bad....I wish all well on their re-building process...And do your homework on other areas that were hit hard and did re-build as they have learned a thing or two.....about new building codes...FEMA may tell you , you can't re-build UNLESS you go higher or there will be no coverage if you DON"T follow there strict requirements/requests to do so...

I agree that the Ortley dunes were not even close to adequate. I have a picture at 4:00 on Sunday at the Trenton Avenue gazebo, 24 hours before the storm hit, and the secondary dune was gone. Other important questions to ask are how did the Ortley dune reinforcement compare with Lavallette and other towns. Just because this was a big storm doesn't mean that town officials acted appropriately. The town has a responsibility to take every necessary precaution to protect our homes.

To answer your question Mark...no.

Mark, first of all the dunes in Seaside Park were much bigger and had plenty of vegetation on them and they held up to the storm. Towns did attempt to make temp dunes but they had no chance of surviving this storm and were less then a speed bump for it.

You can not build a dune in a day or week, just because you pile some sand in front of the homes doesn't mean it becomes a wall. It will just wash away when it gets hits by wave after wave. A dune takes years to build.

I applaud the towns effort to at least try but in the end was futile.

Hey wookfish.
Pretty poor analogies! How about add, why live by a road for a car to crash into your house, under the flight paths where planes flow over head. I guess we shouldn't live in NJ. We had an earthquake in 2011, does that put us on a fault line? FACT; Yes, this was a storm of mega strength. FACT; Toms River consistently failed to reenforce the dunes. FACT; If Toms River had reinforced the dunes over years, and not just replenished them. The destruction would have been 1/2 of what it was.

When does this nanny state foolishness end?

If you want dunes in Ortley sufficient for a storm of this size, the Army Corps of Engineers has a standard, it would need to be 22 - 23 ft high and 150 feet wide. You could probably build it if you condemn and remove the first beach block of homes. Might not be enough if the next storm is a category 2 or 3 hurricane.

Good point John. Fact is we were lucky Sandy was not a Cat 2 or 3 hurricane. If it was, even the 22 ft. high, and 150 ft. wide dune wouldn't have stopped that. Seems as though the questions posted here are asking who is repsonsible for protecting the homes, or who is to blame for their destruction. And while it may be ltigated in the courts for some time, the answer would be the homeowner. The constitution allows for the government to protect us from being attacked, or protecting national security, but not from natural disasters.

No size dune would have stopped this storm according to a national guardsman I spoke with this past Sunday. He stated that the waves were 50 ft. in height. That is why there is so much destruction along Ocean Terrace in Ortley Beach.

I've been on the barrier island and the stark difference between the damage in Ortley vs. Lavallette is quite evident. Unless there is a commitment to construct a stable, MASSIVE dune system, rebuilding those homes is going to be a futile effort. With the little swath of beach remaining in some of these towns, swim areas may need to be severely consolidated. I am just hopeful that the locals are on board with the preservation plan. There will likely be another storm in our future which will hopefully leave us with a broader beach area by dumping some sand rather than degrading it. Until that time, all property protection measures must be on the table.

Rommel102, your comment is ridiculous. I own a home on 35N and 8th. ave. and was allowed to survey the damage ocean front in Ortley this past Sunday, if your going to tell me 10 ft. waves wiped out dozens and dozens of those homes west of Ocean Terrace then you have not seen the destruction I witnessed first hand and up close. Maybe the national gaurdsman was exagerating but 10 ft. waves could never create the kind of damage I witnessed first hand.

Rather than play the blame game,why not channel those energies into preparing for the next storm and ensuring that all that is possible is done to minimize damage. I own a property there and plan on staying.I could care less if ward person Maruca comes around unless she has a degree in engineering. I have asked this question numerous times and have not gotten an answer. When was the last time the barrier island had a beach replenishment and if not why ? I have to applaud the recovery efforts of all those working to restore the island,MUA workers,private contractors,police,public works personnel and of course all the great volunteers and Red Cross personnel.We can't control what happened,we can do our best to prepare for something like this in the future.Negativity and sarcasm will only destroy not rebuild.

This is not a blame game. the reason you have to ask these questions is to make the officials understand that we are paying attention to what they do and that they have to set procedures in place to be better protected next time. I realize you can't have 100% protection but we should make sure we do everything that we can. Use my tax money to build better dunes!

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That PATCH has some nerve even asking that question!

Mari, the Patch wasn't asking this question. This is an opinion from a reader of the Patch, and posted in the "local voices". As anyone can do.

I am a civil engineer living in Ortley Beach for 26 years. Ortley Beach was a mud hole before the storm and a huge mud hole after the storm. The entire infrastructure, beach,dunes,storm sewers,roads and streets have been neglected. We had no beach and dunes, it flowed with the ebb and tides. Our taxes are twice as high as Lavallette. Why? This needs to be investigated at a very high level. Our community will never be the same. John

Perhaps some (most) of the sink holes are the collapsed septic systems - some people didn't know they had???

Ortley Beach used to be Cranberry Inlet. No use building dunes. If Mother Nature wants it back, she'll take it.

Pepe. Isn't that great. Our taxes are almost twice as high.
And our homes are less expensive.

Does Ortley have bulkheads up there? Even though I live in Lavallette, I don't know if you had them. I also don't know if the jetty's had any effect. I suspect bulkheads are better than dunes....don't cremate me for my questions!

John,maybe you should have looked at the tax rates before you bought there..noones fault but your own

Hey fish, Get a life. Owned for over 40 years. Taxes went from $4200 to $11,000 in one year, four years ago along with all the other TR barrier island residents that got screws. Appealed and they blessed me with $9200. What was the name of that arena in TR that is now called Poland Spring? Oh yea, Ritacco Center. Hopefully a few more of his friends from town will be joining him. And let me guess, you live on the mainland in TR?

John i've got a great life thank-you..had a house in Silverton on the water..saw the writing on the wall and bailed in 2005 BEFORE i got the TR tax enema, i made a choice.. you could have too

when your taxes on a property were $4200, i ask, what was the market value of your property 4 yrs ago? non barrier island residents whose properties were valued quite below the barrier islands had taxes of $6400. the town finally had the nerve to equally proportion the taxes based upon market value. ex. home in silverton on the bay, assessed at 200K for yrs, w taxes of $4200, yet market value was $800K+. home assessed at 400K for yrs- non water front, taxes of $6400m, yet market value was $380K. see the error the town FINALLY CORRECTED? you cant have low taxes and reap the rewards of inflated market value while non barrier island residends dont. if you were a full time resident, you would know this to be true. if you don't like what is going on, no one forced you to purchase property here and not make it your full time residence.

i understand that spot, that's why i bailed..and got 799,000 $ for my house..BEFORE what i knew would happen with the taxes...again I CHOSE to sell and take the money and run, not bitch because they raised my taxes

Does anyone have any pictures of the Ortley Beach ocean front area prior to the Ocean Terrace roadway ? Were there homes on what became Ocean Terrace? If so were the homes seized under eminent domain?

There are some rumors going around that Ocean Terrace will not be rebuilt and the new dues will extent onto what was Ocean Terrace. This has to obviously be a federal ( Army Corps of Engineers) project since I have ZERO confidence in our local government!

Mark, I have pictures of ortley with sand dunes. There were small houses on the beach to the left of the surf club of which a unique gentleman mike howes built and owned. he also built the golden gull which made it through the super storm. There were dead end roads and just one street light on fort ave. you can ask locals like Bucky and Harry, paddle foot, Phil or cliff, Roy or bill who both lost there house.

Rod

Rod, I would really love to see those pictures. Is there anyway you could post them on this blog or possibly e-mailing me copies? i would really appreciate it. Thanks