With fresh memories of Sandy, LBI preps for Hurricane Joaquin
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (WPVI) -- Memories of Superstorm Sandy in 2012 are still fresh in the minds of those living on New Jersey's Long Beach Island, so they're getting ready early in case Hurricane Joaquin strikes.
Elaine and Roby McClellan of Harvey Cedars are moving porch furniture in preparation for Joaquin's arrival
"We take everything from here and put it in the living room, which is awful usually, and for the downstairs deck we do the same thing," Elaine said.
"We close up the house and turn off the water and everything, so we'll just be doing that a little earlier than we planned," said Roby.
Public works crews have been pulling in trash cans and racks from the beach and stacking up dozens of lifeguard chairs at the town garage - anything that would blow away or get caught up in a current.
"We're not pushing the panic button yet. We're more in a holding pattern as of right now," said DPW Asst. Superintendent Bill Montag.
"There's still a lot of people down here on the island, a lot of our residents are still here, so you always have to be very cautious and get a lot of stuff ready," said Harvey Cedars, N.J. Mayor Jonathan Oldham.
"We are watching the tides. The tides are running high as it is, so we are concerned about that. In some cases it's up to the dunes line already, so if the storm gets up this way we are expecting a lot more erosion than we currently have," said Chief Tom Preiser of Harvey Cedars Police.
The two last on-duty lifeguards of the season were stationed on Middlesex Avenue. They've got the red flags up and say the ocean's been getting rougher.
"We've had a lot of northeast winds and a lot of waves and a lot of rip currents, a lot of swell. I think this weather systems just going to bring in more of it so don't go in the ocean," said Joseph Pantaleo.
"Out where the waves are breaking we've had some pretty serious rip currents out there, so it's been pretty dangerous conditions this past week," said Kenny Burkhardt.
And if Joaquin does hit Long Beach Island?
"We just stock up the fridge and just get ice and just be prepared, have flashlights stuff like that," said Joe Kenny.
