Photos and Video: Sand Building Inside of Moriches Inlet 3-17-18

By Mike Busch

After seeing some photos and getting reports of sand building inside the East Jetty of Moriches Inlet, I hiked my way through Cupsoge Beach County Park Saturday afternoon at low tide to take a look.

For reference the photo below, taken in late November, shows how the inlet normally looks.

Moriches Inlet, November 19th 2017

Moriches Inlet is well known for its shoaling but three consecutive Nor’easters have deposited so much sand on the inside of the inlet it looks more like a beach than a waterway. I would estimate that at low tide about 25% of the inlet between the jetties is dry land. The sand stretches from the far end of the east jetty all the way around to the backside of inlet. Many locals don’t remember it ever being so bad.

The Coast Guard has surveyed the area and is advising boaters to avoid the inlet. There are also reports that the channels leading to inlet have also shoaled up leading to a call for Federal help and emergency dredging.

Local fisherman and boaters are very concerned with the Spring boating and fishing season right around the corner.

Yesterday Congressman Lee Zeldin was joined by local officials, fisherman, and members of the community at a press conference to call for immediate action from the Army Corp of Engineers.

News 12 covered the press conference and toured the inlet by boat, click here for more details and video.

There is still the potential for yet another coastal storm mid week, check at our new weather page for video updates, live weather data, tide information and three live cameras broadcasting from Davis Park, Fire Island.

To get an idea how powerful the surf was in the last storm, check out the video and images I captured at Cupsogue Beach on Tuesday Here.