On LBI and On Bayfront, Boarding Up and Getting Out

The sign in the window of Surf City Bait and Tackle summed things up nicely.

"Mandatory evacuation on LBI effective 8 a.m. Friday. Store closed until safe re-entry permitted," it said.

The store, on the corner of North 4th Street and Long Beach Boulevard, wouldn't have had many customers on Friday even if it was open. Few cars moved along the normally busy boulevard, and few homes had signs of being occupied a day after mandatory evacuations were announced in preparation of Hurricane Irene.

A block away from the bait shop, at the corner of North 4th and Barnegat Avenue, Joe Fritz was boarding up the front windows of his Cape Cod style home. It's the first time he's ever had to do so.

"This house has been in the family since '72, and this is the first time we're concerned that it could be a serious one," Fritz said. "We've been fortunate for many years."

Fritz and his wife, Jane, are both retired and spend their winters in Florida. After riding out a hurricane in 2004 there, they decided to evacuate this time around and stay with friends who live inland.

"We know what hurricanes are all about," Fritz said.

At the 18th Street beach, Mike Koelsch, of Ewing, was taking things in stride. He and his family rented a beachfront home and decided they would leave the island late Friday night.

"We figured we'll beat the traffic," Koelsch said.

As for the day: "We're having a great time," he said. "The water's clear. There's a bit of an undertow, but it's beautiful." 

Today’s sunny weather also brought a small crowd of residents and visitors to Barnegat’s bay beach. As Scott and Amy Dacus of Lacey soaked up the midday sun with their two young daughters, they said they’re worried about what the storm could bring, but not too concerned about their own welfare – they live relatively far inland.

But things weren’t as calm on the island, where Scott Dacus works as a realtor. 

“All my homeowners, they’re all freaking out,” he said. “We had to chase all our tenants out, and tell the ones coming in they couldn’t come.” Fortunately, he said, there wasn’t a lot of pushback from people angry about missing their vacations. “People were very understanding,” he said. “They were even helping each other out, putting the homeowners’ furniture away. It was kind of surprising that everyone was so accommodating.” 

Not everybody was heeding the evacuation order on LBI, though.

“My broker lives right on the inlet,” Dracus said. “She just built her house, and she says it’s built to sustain a Category 3 hurricane.” She’s determined to stay, he said.

Others are also unfazed by the forecasts of dangerous winds and record-breaking floods.

“We’ll be as close to the water as possible,” said Grace Stone, who is visiting family in Waretown for the weekend with her husband Harry. “We want to see it.”

“We’d been planning on coming down for an end of summer rally,” said Harry Stone. “This makes it even more interesting.”

Still, residents in the eastern sections of Barnegat who are facing mandatory evacuations starting tomorrow say they’re taking the order seriously. 

Mike Barone, a dockmaster at Barnegat’s municipal waterfront, said most of his neighbors in the Morning Shore condominiums on East Bay Avenue have packed up and gone.

“The lot’s pretty empty,” he said.

For days, people have been hauling their boats from the water as municipal employees pack up trash cans and portable toilets at the docks, Barone said. He and his wife would be leaving Friday evening for Mercer County.

Initially, they’d planned to stay, he said, “but if the electricity goes out, you’re pretty much a fish out of water.”

At Bob's Bay Marina, owner Gloria Caswell said it's been a busy few days as boaters have scrambled to secure their craft.

"From our experience, the boats are good in the water," she said. "If you put them on land, they could all end up in the driveway." 

Caswell said she'd be driving west with her mother before the storm arrives. "For myself, I would stay here. I don't want to leave," she said. "But I don't think people are going to take a chance."

Carlo Diciaula, who spent part of Friday covering the windows of his bayfront East Bay Avenue home with plywood, agreed that it was time to go. He said he was nervous about possible damage from unsecured belongings in his neighbors’ yards, but once he finished tying down what he owned, he planned on heading for his full-time home in Warren.

“It’s the only thing we can do,” he said. “We can try to beat mother nature, but she’s smarter than we are.”