The streets and lots closest to the beach were left covered with sand, as much as two feet and more in spots and looking somewhat like snow drifts…but it wasn’t going to melt. Amongst the many contractors who have arrived at the island to help out are those who are specializing in removing the sand, using front-end loaders which dump to trucks. In Beach Haven, Taylor Avenue at the beach was designated as the transfer point for collected sand. Here’s the process.
Contractor’s trucks arrive from the right and dump onto the long sand pile in the background. The orange clam shell dumps loads of collected sand into the hopper forward on the green truck. From there it passes through the rotating brown-colored screen, falling down onto a conveyor which takes it to the beach on the left. Debris in the sand which doesn’t fall through the screen moves on the conveyor belt on the right to a pile on he street. There it will be picked up by the orange front end loader and trucked away to a debris consolidation site.
The cleaned output is then transferred to another truck which distributes it along the beach to restore the protective dunes.
——————————————————————————————————————
There is still much, much debris to be picked up elsewhere. Here are the shops on the bay side of Bay Village.
————————————————————————————————————–
Much of the debris from Beach Haven (and probably Holgate) is brought to a transfer station at the bay end of Taylor Avenue. Trucks arrive and have their contents screened by an inspector who scissors his cubicle up to look into the trucks (for what?).
They then move into the transfer area and have their contents transferred to an interim pile.
On the other side of the pile, two Star Wars creatures grab bucket-fulls of the stuff and place it in other trucks which then head off to the landfill in Stafford Township. If you threw something out by mistake that’s where you’ll find it.
———————————————————————————————————
Meanwhile, immune to the tragedy for a moment, here’s a testament to the future of Beach Haven.
December 6, 2012 at 8:29 am
The last image speaks of the future. One day all will be well again.
December 6, 2012 at 10:50 am
Thanks, D. That’s why I put it in there. He had been fishing near the sand handling operation and I was caught by the specular back-light which I know that you like as well. Then as I was doing the post I thought, “Enough with the misery.” and he was right there.
December 6, 2012 at 9:33 am
Thanks Ralph, especially the closing photo and message ……hope your elevator fared better than mine……once the cab & controls are replaced it will always go to the top floor!
December 6, 2012 at 10:06 am
Yea, verily. Bobby had left it at the second floor in anticipation of the storm but, as with yours probably, when the power went out the cage descended on battery to grade as it was wired to do. Nevermore. My control electronics didn’t get wet but some under-cab sensors will have to be changed.
December 6, 2012 at 9:37 am
Thanks so much Ralph! Adding the last photo was genius!
December 6, 2012 at 10:48 am
Thanks, Gretchen. He was fishing just south of the sand handling operation and I was attracted by the back lighting. Then as I was finishing the third Sandy post I thought “Enough with the misery stuff.” and there he was.
December 6, 2012 at 3:04 pm
Pretty sure there used to be houses at the beach and Taylor Av. No more….?
December 6, 2012 at 3:33 pm
It’s a wide street, you’ll remember, and there was a house just to my left, and you can see the house on the south side so no, I don’t think any were lost here.
December 6, 2012 at 4:28 pm
Hi Ralph,
I wonder if they have sifted out coins from the sand? There used to be pieces of eight on the beach after storms according to Mr Ewer who would scour the beaches after hurricanes. He used to be our neighbor and owned the schooner Lucy Evelyn.
December 10, 2012 at 10:44 am
That might be fun to pursue. Get one of those sensors and go to each pile of “cleaned” sand after it’s been dumped down the beach. BTW, I love knowing guys old enough to remember Nat Ewer and that old Beach Haven world.