Nor’easter inflicts worst Atlantic City beach erosion since Hurricane Sandy

The nor’easter that battered the Jersey Shore this weekend carved away beaches and dunes in what Atlantic City Beach Patrol officials are calling the worst erosion since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, in some cases wiping out sand replenishment projects that were completed only weeks ago.

A half-mile stretch north of Steel Pier took the hardest hit, with the storm cutting into dunes, exposing previously buried structures and leaving steep drop-offs along the shoreline.

Deputy Chief Dave Russo, a longtime member of the Beach Patrol, gave the storm a nickname.

Towns like Ocean City, Atlantic City, and Brigantine suffered major sand loss, leaving steep vertical sand ledges and exposing rocks previously covered by sand.

New Jersey Governor Rebecca ‘Mikie’ Sherrill declared a state of emergency for affected regions although damage assessments are still underway.

“It’s like one big beach eater, coming right at you like a Pac-Man,” Russo said.

Half the dunes survive

Russo estimated about half the dunes remain in the affected area. He said the city’s public works department will likely smooth some of the steep cliffs so beachgoers can safely reach the sand.

The boardwalk was not damaged, he said, and plenty of beach remains available for visitors.

For residents tracking the storm’s toll day by day, the transformation was jarring.

Melita Richardson, who lives a few blocks from the beach, returned to the shoreline each day to watch the storm’s work.

“This is not what it looked like yesterday,” Richardson said Sunday. “This is actually even worse.”

She pointed to a pipe protruding from the sand that had been buried before the storm.

“This pipe that is visible at this point wasn’t even visible yesterday after all the beating,” she said.

Howard Barenfeld, visiting from Orange County, New York, said he and his family had also been watching the shoreline change.

“It’s been incredible to watch as the beach has been eaten away hour by hour, day after day,” Barenfeld said. “We’ve been out here every day.”

More erosion possible

Russo said additional erosion could come as colder months approach.

“The nor’easters usually come in the wintertime, so there may be a lot more beach erosion,” he said.

Beach replenishment in Atlantic City was already being planned before the storm, Russo said.

The weekend storm was part of a broader system that pounded the Northeast, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and causing flooding in coastal communities from New Jersey to New England. New Jersey and New York declared states of emergency.

For now, the boardwalk remains intact and the beach remains accessible, but the storm left a stark reminder of how quickly the Jersey Shore can change.

“I like to call these storms ‘beach eaters’ now,” Russo said, “because they just take away so much of it.”

New Jersey has spent nearly $3 billion on sand replenishment since 1936 across 240 million cubic yards of sand.

Budget reductions by the federal government have slowed down or reduced standard funding allocations, raising concerns for shore towns.

The weekend erosion in Atlantic City comes as New Jersey’s beach renewal program has been thrown into turmoil by federal funding cuts, leaving Shore towns to fend for themselves against an increasingly voracious ocean.

For the first time in nearly 30 years, the flow of sand and dollars for beach replenishment at the Jersey Shore has stopped. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects in Ocean City, Stone Harbor and Avalon, among others, were cut in 2025 by the Trump administration.

The House Appropriations Committee has approved just $60 million for New Jersey beach replenishment in fiscal year 2026, down from the typical $200 million.

The cuts blindsided solidly Republican shore towns — and have exposed the lies told by U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who represents several of the hardest-hit communities, that he is protecting the coastline.

Van Drew claimed he was pushing to renew beach funding in 2026 and is “working on solutions to reduce the cost of replenishment and mitigate erosion,” falsely stating, “I will always protect our Jersey shore.”

Van Drew supported House Republican appropriations measures that reduced overall target funding for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers beach projects.

New Jersey beach replenishment projects received $73 million in federal funding $73 million in federal funds, marking a return of support after last year’s cuts, though long-term funding levels remain uncertain.

Cape May County towns like Avalon and Strathmere faced severe winter erosion and need federal aid to rebuild dunes and beaches.

Pallone and Van Drew each represent Jersey Shore towns, Pallone in Central Jersey and Van Drew in South Jersey.

Robert Young, a coastal geologist at Western Carolina University, said barrier islands will keep shifting regardless of federal policy.

“You’ve been trying to hold a shoreline in place for five decades now that is trying to move, and it’s just going to get harder and harder in the future,” Young said. “It’s going to get more expensive, and you’re going to have to do the projects more frequently, and nor’easters are going take that sand away faster and faster. That’s just the way it is.”

The powerful nor’easter caused severe beach erosion in Ocean City, New Jersey, washing away large portions of a recently completed multi-million dollar beach replenishment project.

Crews recently finished a $19.5 million project on September 7, 2026, adding 1.6 million cubic yards of sand to the Ocean City Beach.

The severe surf and 15 to 18-foot waves stripped away newly pumped sand just weeks after the beach replenishment effort finished, leaving the northern and southern stretches of Ocean City to take the brunt of the damage, causing noticeable drop-offs and steep scar lines along the shoreline.

High tides and storm surge during the September 25–27 storm also submerged low-lying streets, forced water into garages and first-floor structures, and created difficult travel conditions around areas like 9th Street.

Avalon Mayor John McCorristin said the federal cuts caught Shore towns off guard and have forced them to cover costs they cannot afford.

“When you think that you have a great Republican group here that are working so diligently for the people of South Jersey; how it slipped away, no one has an answer for that right now,” McCorristin said. “Hopefully it will be back, but it was something we never truly never expected.”

Avalon scraped together 40,000 cubic yards of sand to bolster its eroded northern end — a stopgap paid for with local tax dollars. McCorristin said the town needs 10 times that amount, at a cost of millions it cannot afford without federal aid.

“So, whatever our original budget projections were, they’re gone. Will there be a tax increase? I would venture to say that’s a darn good possibility, which we have no control, because, you know, we’ve got to do it to keep the island open,” he said.

Ongoing beach replenishment projects in Avalon had been paused because of rough seas, but officials hope work can resume today.