• New Jersey beaches 30-40 feet narrower after Superstorm Sandy, study shows

    Rich Schultz / AP

    Two women walk along the shore where new sand is in place at the beach in Seaside Heights, N.J., on Nov. 18.

    By Wayne Parry, The Associated Press

    The average New Jersey beach is 30 to 40 feet narrower after Superstorm Sandy, according to a survey that is sure to intensify a long-running debate on whether federal dollars should be used to replenish stretches of sand that only a fraction of U.S. taxpayers use.


    Some of New Jersey's famous beaches lost half their sand when Sandy slammed ashore in late October.

    The shore town of Mantoloking, one of the hardest-hit communities, lost 150 feet of beach, said Stewart Farrell, director of Stockton College's Coastal Research Center and a leading expert on beach erosion.

    Routine storms tear up beaches in any season, and one prescription for protecting communities from storm surge has been to replenish beaches with sand pumped from offshore. Places with recently beefed-up beaches saw comparatively little damage, said Farrell, whose study's findings were made available to The Associated Press.

    "It really, really works," Farrell said. "Where there was a federal beach fill in place, there was no major damage — no homes destroyed, no sand piles in the streets. Where there was no beach fill, water broke through the dunes."

    The beach-replenishment projects have been controversial both for their expense and because waves continually wash away the new sand. The federal government picks up 65 percent of the cost, with the rest coming from state and local coffers.

    How big the beaches are — or whether there is a beach at all to go to — is a crucial question that must be resolved before the summer tourism season. The Jersey shore powers the state's $35.5 billion tourism industry.

    But the pending spending showdown between congressional Republicans and Democrats could make it even harder to secure hundreds of millions of additional dollars for beach replenishment.

    From 1986 to 2011, nearly $700 million was spent placing 80 million cubic yards of sand on about 55 percent of the New Jersey coast. Over that time, the average beach gained 4 feet of width, according to the Coastal Research Center. And just before the storm hit, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded nearly $28 million worth of contracts for new replenishment projects in southern New Jersey's Cape May County.

    Wayne Parry / AP

    A bulldozer pushes piles of sand around on the beach in Ocean Grove, N.J., beach in front of its storm-buckled boardwalk and damaged fishing pier on Nov. 15, 2012.

     

    U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, used a photo of a pig on the cover of his 2009 report "Washed Out To Sea," in which he characterized beach replenishment as costly, wasteful pork that the nation could not afford.

    "Taxpayers are not surprised when they learn how Congress wastes billions of dollars on questionable programs and projects each year, but it may still shock taxpayers to know that Congress has literally dumped nearly $3 billion into beach projects that have washed out to sea," he wrote.

    A message seeking comment was left Monday with Coburn's office.

    U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, predicted lawmakers from New Jersey and New York would be able to get additional shore protection funds included in the next federal budget, despite partisan wars.

    "I think we will be able to make the case," he said. "We can show that this provides long-term protection to property and lives. You can either pay up front to keep on top of projects like this, or you can pay on the back end" through disaster recovery funds.

    Menendez this week noted that Congress has approved emergency recovery funds for victims of Hurricane Katrina and tornadoes in Missouri, among other natural disasters.

    During a tour of storm-wrecked neighborhoods in Seaside Heights and Hoboken, Vice President Joe Biden also vowed the federal government would pay to rebuild New Jersey.

    "This is a national responsibility; this is not a local responsibility," Biden said. "We're one national government, and we have an obligation."

    Jogging in the street because Sandy had destroyed the Spring Lake boardwalk for the second time in little over a year, Michele Degnan-Spang said it was difficult to comprehend how things have changed in her community.

    A few stray planks of the synthetic gray boardwalk that was just replaced last year after Tropical Storm Irene were strewn about the sand; concrete pilings that used to support the boardwalk now stretch for a mile off to the horizon like little Stonehenges.

    "It's horrible," she said. "It's draining to see this. It's surreal. I'm walking through it and saying, 'This really is happening.'"

    Degnan-Spang predicted she and her extended family would be back on the sand soon, though.

    "The drive is going to be to get back on the beach next summer, no matter what it looks like," she said. "We don't go on vacation because we live in the most beautiful spot in the world. We all go to the beach; it's what summer is. It'll come back; it'll just be different."

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  • Prisoner escapes, found in N.J. hospital vent less than an hour later

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    By Brynn Gingras, NBCNewYork.com

    A prisoner who escaped police custody while at a hospital in Jersey City was caught in a vent less than an hour after he tried to break free from the building, authorities said. 


    The suspect, who had warrants for shoplifting, was found lying on an air-conditioning vent not far from the bathroom where he escaped inside Jersey City Medical Center at 355 Grand St., police said. 

    "We found him in a section of the ER that was cornered off," said Charmaine Ifill, assistant director of nursing. "He wasn't able to go to the second floor or leave that area at all. It was blocked by two firewalls, so he wasn't able to leave the room at all." 

    Read the original report  |  More from NBCNewYork.com 

    Luis Torres was being cleared for incarceration at the hospital late Monday afternoon when he said he had to use the bathroom, according to authorities. He made his escape there, climbing through the ceiling and going up through a vent.

    Torres was allowed to go to the bathroom alone because he wasn't a violent criminal, police said. 

    He was gone for about 45 minutes as police searched for him. 

    Patients and employees reported hearing the suspect crawl in the ceiling above them.

    "You could hear him struggling, moving spot from spot to find a place to hide," said Ifill. "It was a little scary." 

    Patients were moved away from the two bays where he was believed to be, creating a small backlog in the emergency room as a result. Visitors were not allowed in the hospital as police searched for the prisoner. 

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    He was finally found lying on the vent less than an hour later.

    Hospital staffers said they were equipped to handle the situation, which had never before occurred there. 

    "We're trained for this," said Ifill. "We take care of a lot of prisoners. We are trained to handle emergencies and situations like this." 

    Still, patients and visitors were rattled by the brief escape. 

    "What if someone was really hurt from this situation?" said Pedro Sanchez of Jersey City. "It's not just a hospital. There's an elementary and middle school right around the corner." 

    It's not clear if Torres had an attorney. 

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