About 12 sinkholes have opened in Sea Bright beach, located in New Jersey, during the past days.
The sinkholes that are up to 1 meter wide and deep, appeared on the beach after Subtropical Storm Melissa struck the area on October 9, 2019. “Someone could fall in, never come out,” Kyle Hopfensperger, a business owner, stated.
According to officials, the sinkholes were triggered due to a combination of heavy rainfall and the construction of a sea wall. In particular, sand moves through rock blocks as they settle to create the wall and rain exacerbated the phenomenon. “We believe the sinkholes were caused due to the construction of the sea wall project. The settling of the rocks around there, the sand is supposed to kind of find its way between those and with heavy rains that we experienced last week, that’s kind of the issue we’re dealing with,” Dan Chernavsky, Sea Bright Office of Emergency Management coordinator, clarified.
Authorities have warned people to stay out of the beach until further notice. A major issue is that the ground near the sinkholes is also unstable and may cave in if someone walks over it.
Danny Ciambrone, a local, fell on a 60-centimeter sinkhole while walking on the beach. He mentioned that authorities have established some alert signs but not all people are careful. “I just saw the sand had giant holes and there wasn’t just one; there were 10. A lot of people walk their dogs up and down. You see the caution signs, but you don’t really know that it’s a real thing," he said.
The tropical storm also caused steep slopes to appear on some of Jersey's beaches. The most affected areas are located in the Atlantic and Cape May counties. According to Steve Hafner, assistant director at Stockton University’s Coastal Research Center, those inclines will be addressed using a bulldozer or by depositing sand to level the ground.
Mr. Chernavsky stated that sinkholes will keep emerging as sand moves through the aforementioned rock blocks.
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