Lido Beach shoreline takes heavy hit in storm

Yesterday's moderate nor'easter packed enough of a wallop to badly damage the shoreline at Lido Beach but caused only minor erosion along Ocean Parkway and at Orient Beach State Park.

At Lido Beach West, waves devastated 15-foot-tall dunes that protect the barrier island, tearing out dune grass and leaving clumps of its dense root system exposed. A half-mile section of beach including all of Lido Beach West and parts of the area known as Lido Civic sustained significant damage, said Hempstead Town conservation Commissioner Ron Masters.

Even before yesterday's storm, officials estimated 200,000 to 220,000 cubic yards of new sand would be needed to repair erosion. "There's almost no beach left," Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray said. Masters said workers will survey the erosion and place sand at the most affected sites.

Waves 8 feet to 10 feet high were breaking along the South Shore in the afternoon, driven by winds gusting to 40 mph, according to the National Weather Service in Upton.

The latest assault of the most damaging winter beach erosion season since the early 1990s was "digging into the dunes" along Ocean Parkway and at Robert Moses State Park, said Ronald Foley, regional director with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

Foley said 5,000 cubic yards of sand dumped by state workers Friday and over the weekend along a section of Ocean Parkway east of the Nassau-Suffolk line "is doing its job" in preventing serious erosion. At Field 5 at Robert Moses State Park, Foley said, there was no erosion where a contractor on Monday began piling up sand from an emergency stockpile.
 

THIS WEEK'S FORECAST

Sunshine is coming. On Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service, there's a chance of light showers in the morning giving way to partly sunny conditions by the afternoon with highs in the lower 50s.

It will remain partly cloudy Wednesday night with lows in the 40s and sunny Thursday, with highs in the mid 50s. Expect temperatures to rise Friday and Saturday, the weather service said, with partly sunny skies Sunday.