By Mike Busch 9-21-19
Long Island has been spared any direct tropical storm or Hurricane impacts for the last few years but even storms that pass by hundreds of miles offshore can have an impact. We have had two storms generate large swells this month, Dorian and over the last few days, Humberto. I had heard that Dorian caused some erosion at Old Inlet, particularly on the spit of sand on the east side but hadn’t seen for myself until last night. What is clear is the east spit is entirely gone and the main channel that went along the east side along the spit has filled in. The new main channel looks to be going straight through now as you will see below in some of the photos. I will try to get a better look at low tide in the coming days but this is a fairly dramatic shift. In May it looked like it could easily close, now it a different story. The question in my mind is did all that sand just fill in the bay or move down the beach? Hopefully Dr. Flagg of Stony Brook will weigh in with his thoughts soon.
Below are a few photos of the spit taken over the Spring and Summer to provide some perspective.
Stay tuned for more storm wave footage in the days ahead.
Click here for a full library of photos and videos of Old Inlet over the years.
May 2019
May 2019
Early July 2019
Late July 2019
Mid August 2019
September 20, 2019
