Hurricane Sandy
19th Avenue Section of Belmar Boardwalk Remains Standing
Portion is newer and uses 'hurricane straps'
To the north and south of it, totally destroyed. But the 19th Avenue section of Belmar's boardwalk stands alone as the portion that survived Hurricane Sandy, a storm whose surge crumpled homes and uprooted an entire boardwalk. That is, an entire boardwalk except the 19th Avenue section. What spared the 20 feet of boardwalk? Engineer Paul Calabrese said that section was the most recently rebuilt, using stronger codes. Whereas the older portions are built with 12-foot pilings, the 19th Avenue boardwalk has 25 feet. The 19th Avenue section has "hurricane straps" supporting the decking: approximately 12 inches of twisting metal straps installed underneath the boardwalk. New engineering elements such as those are what may have saved 19th Avenue…
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