By Mike Busch 12-17-2020
If you have taken the walk or drive on the Cupsogue Outer Beach on the way to Moriches Inlet over the last few years, you may have noticed erosion inside the East cut. For some reason, it has gotten much worse this Fall with a huge section of the bluff collapsing into the East Cut of Moriches Inlet, taking snow and wooden fences with it. The road is closed for 4×4 traffic just west of the camping area and looks to be in jeopardy. I would guess that about 50 to 100 yards of land have disappeared. A good reference is a pile of rocks that used tp be situated at the edge of the water at the west end of the camping area. This same pile of rocks is now a tiny island about 75 yards into the channel, protected by two buoys to keep boats from running into them. The screenshots from Google Earth show these rocks below from 2012, and 2019.
Those same rocks now are a navigation hazard to boats.
Whatever is causing this erosion appears to be accelerating. It will be interesting to see how the area fares after today’s storm pulls away.
Photos and videos below were taken Friday, December 11th. Aerial photos start on Page 4.