Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-09-20
CURRENT AFFAIRS.
LAST WEEKS GREAT STORM

1t would require long chapter to tell in
detail the story of the wreck and ruin
wrought from the Long Island and New
Jersey coast down, by the great storm of
last week which finally died away on the
coast of Virginia and the Carolinas but an
account of what happened at the one point
of Seabright, on the northern New Jersey
coast will answer as an illustration Of the
whole. Seabright is perched on a slip of
sand which cuts off the ocean from the
Shrewsbury river, and this little beach,
scarcely 800 feet in width, has been pro
tected by enormous hulkheads, erected at
great expense in what was considered an
impregnable manner. The breakers ripped
out most of these bulkheads in short meter.
Cottages which cost $40, 900 are now rep
resented by cellars filled with pools Of sea
water. The New Jersey Southern railroad
was covered with sand for miles, and the
fishermen of Gallee, small hamlet near
Seabright, were entirely ruined in "A few
minutes Their boats were all carried out
to sea and their houses were demolished.
The loss at this one point will reach half
million dollars, and this is only an example
of what happened all along the coast, say
nothing of the destruction Of coastwise
vessels, especially ON the Delaware coast,
and the loss of life among the sailors
A remarkable feature is the change which
the storm has wrought in the New Jersey
coast-lne For centuries its beaches have
been gradually succumbing to the force Of
the waves, the average loss along the whole
coast being twelve feet n year. In the
southern part of the state the wear is es-
pecially marked. Sandy Hook, on the
contrary, has extended itself a mile and a
half within the last hundred years, and is
still gaining from accumulations but at
Barnegat, 30 miles south. the loss has been
200 yards in 40 years, aud the storm great
| ly helped this destruction. At the end of
the Highlands great breach has been made
in the sandy breastwork, opening a lane
that was closed in the days of the Revolu-
ton, and Sandy Hook is once more an
island. Huge slices have been cut out of
the three miles of hard upland between
North Long Branch and Elberon, and in
many places the bluff is undermined and
will fall into the surf. Along Island Beach
there are several inets to Barnegat bay
which did not exist before the storm.
The reason for these changes is found no
less in the force of the storm than in the
peculiar formation Of the coast line. From
| Sandy Hook on the north New Jersey coast,
almost to Cape Fear ON the CarOlinas, the
main coast is separated from the ocean by "A
long line Of sandy dunes, or natural breast
works, in many places not more than half a
mile wide. Towns on the outer edge Of
these breastworks are connected with the
mainland only by bridges over marshy la
| goons, and when travel across these is in
terrupted their inhabitants are practically
| cut off from retreat In the present case,
a. at Seabrght many Of the towns were
subjected ~ double assault, the wind hav-
ing forced the water from the bays upon
the dunes in the rear at the same time that
the Atlantic was hurlng its huge rollers
against their outer face. a little less ele
vation of their main ridge would have
meant general submergence, and several
| hourishing towns would have been suddenly
| wiped out of existence.