Tuesday, December 15, 1992 – 32 Years Ago
The Nor’easter of 1992 brought onshore winds of up to 90 mph. Offshore, waves are calm at 25 feet. Low-lying coastal areas were flooded with up to four meters of flood water for four days. In the following hours, President George HW Bush would declare Monmouth and Ocean counties to be disaster areas, as the initial damage assessment in all amounts to $500 million (or $222.2 billion).
Today, the wind may finally change
It was a tale of two shores.
As floodwaters receded yesterday from Monmouth and Ocean counties, bulldozers pushed sand from the main oceanfront roads to the heavily eroded beaches. But in other areas, residents faced more damage as stubborn waves rose again to flood homes.
Weather forecasters again revised their forecast and predicted that this morning would be the last of the flash floods. He said the winds should pick up this afternoon and start pushing water to the sea, but clouds may continue to cover many areas.
The heavy rain surprised the people of Shore
Despite early warnings from the National Weather Service, thousands of Shore residents were surprised by the speed and height of the nor’easter weekend’s waves.
Given the panic caused by the storm, the timing of those warnings — which came a day before the storm hit southern New Jersey — underscores how coastal residents should be aware of marine ice storms.
“To tell you the truth, I think the lead time was pretty good on this one,” said Jay Krieger, chief of the National Weather Service’s Atlantic County bureau. “We gave our warning six hours before New York arrived.”
Evacuees who left coastal communities in southern Ocean County on Friday said they underestimated the storm’s impact. Others, like Mickey Lamo of Manasquan in Monmouth County, wanted to know why immigration officials didn’t order their removal Thursday night.
Lamo said he woke up on Friday morning to find water hitting the foundation of his house and his car partially submerged.
“Every small storm they report to us with fire engines and sirens,” he said. “This year there is none. I would have left or moved my car if I had heard something.”
“They weren’t telling us to get out,” said Jill Fisler, whose apartment in the Port Monmouth section of Middletown was flooded. “I know that none of us was ready for this. Our house is destroyed.”
Fisler explained that he and his family waited nine hours for emergency workers to rescue them as the water rose to a height of four feet.
Trump lobbies; senators behind bars
TRENTON – With Donald Trump canvassing the streets of the Statehouse for votes, the state Senate yesterday approved a plan to ask voters whether Atlantic City casinos should be allowed to offer betting on sporting events.
Mr. Trump, who plans to “maybe” return on Thursday to the vote of the Assembly, was part of the star players taking sides to put the application of sports betting on the ballot of November 1993. The president of the National Basketball Association and the commissioner-elect of the National Hockey League, during the recent meeting of the committee of the Assembly, strongly opposed the plan; the chairman of Bally’s casinos supported the idea.
But it was Trump who led the charge and attracted much attention, insisting that banning sports betting could kill casinos.
“Atlantic City is in deep trouble,” said Trump, who has major interests in three casinos. “Industry cannot exist if it is not allowed to grow.”
This article originally appeared on the Asbury Park Press: Asbury Park Press NJ archive on December 15.