Today AM 1640 is back on the air. A fuse blew apparently during the many power failures or surges. The weather station graphic on the website failed and was restored this morning with no loss of data. Later this week the weather station moves to a new server so we shouldn’t see any graphic failures. Here are the high tides using the North Wildwood Tide Gauge
Saturday Morning High tide was at 7:15 AM and it crested at 9.44 feet at 9:37 AM
Saturday Evening High tide was at 7:41 PM and it crested at 8.26 feet at 9:21 PM
Sunday Morning High Tide was at 7:58 AM and it crested at 7.78 Feet at 9:15 AM
January 24, 2016 – Tides continue through morning tide
For those keeping track last nights high tide was 8.26 feet and this mornings 7.90, which is an estimated due to the weather station interface failing. Also AM1640 was off the air for the weekend. We are unsure what the situation is but it is located in the area where the city had electrical issues. AM1640 is connected to a system that has a generator but the turning off and on of the electric could have caused the issue. We will get it up and running ASAP. This morning 10 electric trucks from New York State showed up along with several DeMarVa Power and Light trucks. Slowly they were making their way through town taking care of the electrical outages. There are also several dozen people in the Recreation Center shelter and they will be returned home when their electric is restored, it appears that this will be complete by late this afternoon. Something we learned was that when the power went out so did the Cable TV and those residents that have Comcast Voip Phone service have a battery that will last approximately six hours after that they lose phone service. During this storm the city was deluged with check on the welfare calls to check family members that could not be reached. Those calls took valuable resources from the storm related evacuations and security patrols in areas of no power. As many of these calls were in areas of high water the limited number of high water vehicles were pulled in many directions. Suggestion – Those that want to provide some sort of gift to their loved ones perhaps giving them a cell phone and an inexpensive solar cell phone charger so they have an alternate way to reach them when the power is out or help them afford switching back to a hard line phone. The key to less stress and survival is planning so you are prepared. At this point we know of no additional tidal flood warning for this evenings tide.
January 23, 2016 – City hit with record high tide and Electric Outages – Were you prepared?
This morning’s high tide was a record 9.44 feet cresting between 9:37 to 9:41 AM some two hours and 23 minutes after the predicted high tide of 7:14 AM. The snow was several inches and most of it has been washed away by the rain. Traveling around town there were a few cars parked in obvious flood prone areas that were subject to flood damage. Perhaps the owners were out of town. The electric is currently out in many parts of the city and due to the prolonged flooding the Electric Company will not service any area covered with water and/or subject to 35 mile per hour or greater winds. They are slowly restoring power to the communities in the county on a priority basis – that is outages that are affecting a large group are handled first over single isolated outages. Flooding was up to Atlantic Avenue on most streets. Even during the low tide as I update this page most of New York and Delaware Avenues have water covering most of the street. The city has opened a shelter at the recreation center for those have water in their house or no electricity as well as the County has opened a shelter. However due to the many calls for transportation and evacuation which requires high water vehicles it is taking up to four hours to pick up some people. Pickups are being prioritized for those elderly or with medical issues first. For those that understood your patience was appreciated. For those that continued to call over and over you have to ask yourself – Were you prepared?
What are we getting tonight? How high will the tide be? The National Weather Service issued a 11AM briefing that shows the predicted tides for Atlantic City and Lewes, DE we fall some where in between. Tides in Atlantic City will continue to be high while the Lewes, DE tides will go down. The probable reason is the storm is heading North and will be continuing to affect Atlantic City while moving away from Lewes, DE. The predictions assume the rate the storm is moving northward and the wind shifting before high tide. Any variation will change things. In terms of being prepare for the same and you can’t go wrong.
January 22, 2016 – Flooding and Snow concerns continue . . .
The National Weather Service in their 10am Briefing for Emergency Managers are predicting pretty much the same as yesterday’s 5pm update. This shows that the uncertainty level is lessening. They are calling for three periods of Moderate Flooding at heights which will be on par with the flooding that took place in October. The tides to watch are Saturday at 7:14am and 7:41pm as well as the Sunday morning 7:58am high tide. The heights will be in the 7.5 to 8.0 feet range and the flooding will be lasting for longer periods of time due to high Nor’easterly winds will slow the tides going down. The City of North Wildwood Emergency Management Committee met this morning and the city is fully prepared for this event. The snow is predicted to be 4 to 6 inches before turning to rain. Snow Emergency Routes of New Jersey and Atlantic Avenues will be in effect when snow covered. Due to the high winds you should be taking all precautions to secure trash cans and any other outside items. If you live in a flood prone area of town you should move your vehicle to higher ground. Once you have secured your property you are urged to stay safely inside your house. This event is a shelter in place event where it is safer to be in your home for the duration of the storm than outside. In the event you need storm related assistance the dispatch center for storm related assistance in North Wildwood is the Police Dispatch which can be reached at 609-522-2411. Please be patient when you call as others maybe calling also. If you are simply looking for information you can find out a lot clicking on the links on the right hand side of this page.
January 21, 2016 – Moderate to Major Flooding predicted for Saturday Morning, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
At their 9AM briefing for Emergency Managers the National Weather Service is continuing their predictions of moderate to major tidal flooding for the area. They have extended the high tides to watch to Saturday Night (7:41PM) in to Sunday Morning (7:58AM). They are predicting just over 7.5 feet for Atlantic City and just over 8 foot for Lewes, DE. This would put us in the area of the upper 7 to 8 foot range which is considerable and is very similar to the flooding that took place during this past October where the tide reached 8.13 feet. The snow portion of the briefing shows upwards of 10 inches for parts of Cape May County while along the barrier islands it could be little to none. There will be high prolonged winds during the storm. Residents should take all precautions and be prepared for this dangerous storm.
January 20, 2016 – Major Flooding predicted for Saturday 7:15 AM High Tide
At their 4PM Briefing for Emergency Managers on Tuesday the National Weather Service changed the predictions for tidal flooding from moderate to major for the 7:15am high tide on Saturday morning that will occur in conjunction with a full moon and nor’easter snow storm. Major tidal flooding starts at 8.7 feet and for North Wildwood generally will cover an area from New Jersey Avenue westward and continue with gutter water in the side streets in the 100 block East. While NJ route 147 out of North Wildwood will be open flooding on New Jersey Avenue in the vicinity of the Elks Lodge and on Spruce just past the Wawa store will make getting out of town difficult. Also additional flooding may be caused by slow draining water caused by heavy rain or snow. Residents should take all precautions they usually do in similar situations and monitor the local weather reports for changes. A Code Red notification to all residents will be sent out tonight at 5 pm alerting them to monitor the situation. We urge anyone that would like to view the briefings for themselves to click on the link on the right hand side of this column – NWS Emergency Manager Briefings. These briefings are updated during serious storm situations and only when a new one comes out so clicking on this link when no storm is imminent you will see the last briefing that was issued which may be several months ago.