Fifteen-year-old Davine Reid just knew something bad was going to happen that night.

“I told my friend we’d better hurry up and get home. There only was a shallow wind, but the moon was so close to Earth, and it was a full moon. I’ve never seen the moon that close. I just had a feeling something was wrong.”

We had been living in Avalon for about two years at the time, having moved here from Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1960. At the time of the storm I was 12. My dad was a painting contractor who was known in the community for his cooking.

I remember the town officials stated that the only people who would be allowed to stay were the police, firefighters and volunteers. I remember my dad asking if we wanted to be evacuated, and my mom, sister and I said we would stay. Once the town was evacuated it looked like a ghost town.

The apartment building at 100 South Providence Ave. in Atlantic City, constructed by my great-grandparents in 1916, endured its first brush with Mother Nature during the March 1962 storm.

When we let the public know a few weeks ago that we were putting together some special coverage commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Great Atlantic Storm of 1962, we were hoping to get enough material to fill a page or two.

What we got from so many generous and thoughtful readers was a flood – of memories, pictures and newspaper clippings from people for whom the Ash Wednesday Storm was truly a watershed event.

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP – The next time a storm like the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 takes aim at South Jersey, the winds may howl and dangerous waters may rise with each high tide, but there will be something different about the way the storm impacts the coast.

We will be better warned.

Those are the words of NBC40 meteorologist Dan Skeldon in talking about what he calls the “five-high” storm that blew in on Ash Wednesday of 1962 and lasted for five successive high tides over three days.

The sand partially buries cars outside the White House Bar at Atlantic and Washington avenues, the site of Ocean City Home Bank today.
Many people who were here in 1962 remember the storm that battered the coastline 50 years ago this week. For three days the winds howled and refused to let the tide go back out. Each successive high tide built on the one preceding to raise the water level in the streets until the rising bay and ocean waters met in some locations.

Anthony Zurawski of Avalon remembers the aftermath of the 1962 storm. (photo by Jen Arthur)

Islands were inaccessible for weeks

Anthony Zurawski would likely remember the March, 1962 storm no matter what, but he has another strong reminder – he was married a few days before the storm hit.

Nick Mauri of Ventnor holds a photo of himself on the beach in Atlantic City after the storm of 1962.
VENTNOR – Nick Mauri was a senior in high school living in Philadelphia at the time of the 1962 storm.

“I remember being in school and my friend saying, ‘I wonder if the house is still there,’ Mauri said Monday, March 5.
Mauri’s family had a summer home on Vendome Avenue in Margate, and his friend Jim Minia’s family had a summer home in Longport.

Together they drove down to the shore to survey the damage, and Mauri took his camera along for the ride.

WILDWOOD CREST— On the first morning of the storm we attempted to ride from the Crest up Pacific Avenue to Wildwood High School, but Pacific Avenue was flooded. We turned around and the lower end of Pacific Avenue was flooded.

Barb Steere, of North Wildwood
I was here during the ’62 storm. I was just a young kid at the time but I remember watching the flooding and things floating down the street from the house on 16th Street.

AVALON – When a nor’easter is in the forecast, Dick Dean of Avalon thinks of the March 1962 storm.

If that’s not enough to jog his memory, he still lives in the same house along Ocean Drive in the borough. Dean, who is 76, has been an Avalon councilman since 1987.

Richard Dietz knows a lot of things change in 50 years.

Showing book after book of his photographs from the March 1962 storm, he points to one image in which the dinner special is visible: roast beef, 85 cents.

Artist Hank Guarini reveals his artwork to be hung in the museum during the formal commemoration ceremony of the 50th Anniversary of the March storm of 1962 in the Sea Isle City Library on Tuesday, March 6. Guarini was inspired from a photo taken by Pat Haffert of residents being evacuated from the island during the storm.

Boardwalk, hundreds of homes destroyed

SEA ISLE CITY – Sea Isle City was among the hardest hit of all South Jersey towns during the March 1962 Storm.

The Sea Isle City Historical Society (SICHS), in partnership with the Cape May County Library System, hosted a series of special events to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the March Storm of 1962 this week. A variety of displays and special programs marked the anniversary.