Cape May is preparing the best that can be done and right now, there are voluntary evacuations, but that will likely change into mandatory. The barrier islands already have mandatory evacuations in place for tomorrow. There's not much that can be done, other than boarding up windows and in the case of that new convention hall with the wall of windows, there's nothing that can be done.

Multiple engineers and architects told the city not to install it, but the architect who designed it told the city it was fine and the city chose to do it. We will see how it holds up. The city seems to be not so confident in the new hall's ability to withstand the storm and took the unorthodox measure of building a sand dune directly behind the hall. Unfortunately, according to at least one engineer, this will actually make the situation worse of the city is hit full-blast.

Because the dune is not very long and only the length of the convention hall deck, when water rushes around it and meets in the middle on the other side, it will create a whirlpool effect... right in front of those windows. Secondly, the sand was literally bulldozed right off the adjacent beach to the left and right of the hall, leaving those beaches and the properties behind them, vulnerable to the storm. That could prove to be a very bad decision. While the dune is only about 50 feet long and 4-5 feet high, it took A LOT of sand from those other beaches, many cubic tons.

We shall see. Please keep the city and its residents in your prayers.

Ben Miller

I was there last year when the hotels were ordered to close and the gov said get off the dam beaches.

It was a circus. Glad I had a full tank of gas. Lines at gas stations on way out were very long.

This time, nobody is having to tell people to get off the beach, they are taking this very serious. This storm bears a striking resemblance to the storm in 1962 that ravaged Cape May. In '62, there was a full moon just like there is today and it was only 15 days away from one of the two annual equinoxes (Spring and Autumnal, where the tides are at their highest). The Autumnul Equinox was only 33 days ago on Sept 22nd.

Tides are already at their highest of the year, along with during the month around the Spring equinox, plus the Cove is already gone from erosion over the year. The city and federal government spent millions on a replenishment project between the end of last year and the beginning of this year, but all the sand was eroded over the year and the Cove currently looks like it did in the 1980s, before replenishment. With the Cove in its current condition, there is a lot of concern of flooding into West Cape May and blasting the Eastern side of town.

oh my, everything sounds so grim, I will have CM in my prayers and hope all residents stay safe. The thought of beautiful CM being hit makes me feel sick.

We evacuated from the Point and are anxious for any news. If anyone there has power and can post, please do.

Here's a youtube video of Grant Street beach.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B245prjJSwM&sns=fb

I think this is the place to go for Cape May related updates

https://www.facebook.com/CapeMayCounty

Check out the pix of the Lobster House shared on that page :(

Ventnor:

…fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/546859_1015225056910…

BTW, the hurricane itself is still 110 miles off shore, moving at around 15 mph - hitting at around sundown/high tide tonight.