The good news is that the tires have
helped protect the beach front homes as was suggested by the county and
state officials. The bad news is that many of these tires have
floated away and washed up on the beach further south. Tires are
bad enough, but it could have been parts of homes that washed away.
The owners who used the tires for
protection along with friends and Neeld Estate volunteers will be
retrieving the tires, as the weather becomes more favorable.
Everyone can help. If you see a
tire washing up and you are physically able to pull it up further on the
beach it will be greatly appreciated. It is easier to
retrieve a tire that is not buried in the sand.
Don Kleinhen
NECA President 3/17/10
NECA Residents,
We had a great turnout for the
NECA Special Meeting on Saturday May 15th. The
state and county representatives presented facts and diagrams about the
way the beach sand migrates up and down the shoreline and they addressed
the issues presented by Neeld Estate residents. They were also
very concerned about this year’s severe winter erosion problem and
acknowledged that a bulkhead is needed to protect against possible shore
line erosion in the future and further storm damage to private property.
They said that the county property at Ridge Road would be impacted
by the backfill and tiebacks and they preferred that the beach access be
left open along with building wing walls by the property owners that are
adjacent to the county owned Ridge Road property. Based on
historical sand migration cycles, the sand does return each summer and
the MDE representatives hope that this will continue in the future and
they expect that the opening at the Ridge Road access area will not
erode any further. Greg Bowen (Calvert
County Director of the department of planning and zoning) said
that the county prefers that Ridge Road area remain as a beach access
for the community and if further erosion does occur, their intension is
to maintain this area as open and accessible without obstructions.
Gary Setzer (MDE Program Administrator for the Wetlands and
Waterways program) said that MDE considered the bulkhead as phase one
and that future phases could involve MDE sponsored beach replenishment
with possible rock jetties for further storm protection. These
future phases are expensive and are dependent on state funding programs.
Based on the information
provided by the state and county along with a desire not to hold up the
bulkhead permit any longer , NECA membership decided to rescind the
motion that would have built a bulkhead across the access and would have
accepted the donation of property from Plum Point Corp. The
beach access at Ridge Road will be owned and controlled by Calvert
County and Plum Point Corp.
Don
Kleinhen, NECA
Pres.
5/19/10
Letter & Photos from Anne
Jones
last week
today - 3/29/10
Dear
neighbors,
I just wanted to send you all some pictures of what accretion looks
like! We had incredible southerly winds yesterday evening and
overnight. It was a bit scary but those waves really brought in
the sand. For any of us who are concerned that the beach will
never build back (regardless of where the wall goes), this is testament
to how quickly it can happen. We also know it can quickly be taken
away but as we get more southerly winds this spring and summer, I think
we will see that mother nature can give as well as take. In the
three sets of pictures below, the first is today, the second is just
last week. In the third set of pictures, notice the sand build up
at the harbor.
Talk soon everyone!
Anne/Annie 3/29/10
notice the sand build up
at the harbor
Neeld Estate
from Google Earth - click photos to enlarge
Neeld Estate March 2007
Affected area - look
at the
amount of sand in 2007
The Beach Is Taking A
Pounding - AGAIN!
March 12-13, 2010 -
Coastal Flooding, High Winds
photos courtesy of Mary Osbourn-Reilly
Monday January
25, 2010
from Marty Meyer
Here
are pics from Monday morning, Jan. 25, 2010. Jay and Sandy Geest
did okay.
The Parks did okay. Tim Clark did okay. Anne Jones did okay. We
lost poles and tires. Mary got hit pretty bad. Polly got
hit bad. Jenkins will loose their gazebo base soon.
My
brother and I were out there in the surf tying our poles together,
securing them back in the yard. We pounded down poles in Anne's
yard and put lots more tires on ours and Anne's. My brother and
I spent most of the time trying to secure Mary's yard best we could.
They had a breach in their tire line and lost sand bags. Poles
and tires were floating away. The rest of their sea wall floated
away and was part of the cause for knocking down tires where the old
sea wall was behind the tires. My brother and I hauled about 25
sand bags and put them in Mary's yard to protect it where it washing
out.
Tuesday January
26, 2010
from Marty Meyer
Monday, January 25, 2010 Brent
Golden's Photos
If You
Would Like To Help from Marty
Meyer
Hello,
As you
know, with the beach gone, wave action is still threatening
to damage homes. At this point, the tires and sand bags will be
our defense until better protection is installed.
If
anyone in or out of the community would still like to help, there are
areas that your help would be greatly appreciated!!
But
first and foremost, I would like to thank the family that is not on
the water front that has donated the money to purchase an entire dump
trunk load of sand!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!
If you
can help, here is what we need:
1)
The sand was delivered at the end of Ridge Road on Monday. We
can use anyone who would like to fill sand bags which can be done at
anytime on anyone's schedule. The sand bags can be left near the
road or near the beach so they can be used at anytime where needed.
There are empty sand bags there already that can be
used. These bags are weak and need to be doubled up. Any help
from filling one bag to many bags will be appreciated!!! But
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, do not injure your self or
overdo it.
2)
At some point, we may need more empty sand bags. If anyone has a
source for them at a reasonable cost, please let us know.
3) Poles....once
again, if anyone has some 4-8 foot poles they don't need, we can
use them. We would like to find round fence
posts or street sign poles. The 't poles' that are
in place work well, but longer ones would be good too.
4)
Tires....we may still need some tires. I have found a source
that is local that should give us all we need at this time. We
are just paying for the cost to deliver them. Or we are picking
them up ourselves. I will keep you posted if we need more.
5)
Donations....there are expenses that NECA has had to cover as well as
many homeowners.
Please,
do not feel obligated in any way.
I
personally would like to thank EVERYONE who has done so much
already!!! I know all the affected homeowners feel the same way.
We are all very grateful for all your help and expenses you have
provided!!!
To all of the VOLUNTEER SANDBAGGERS
We asked for help and you came.
Young and old. You brought food,
shovels, words of
encouragement, you changed your schedules,
and you worked until it hurt, all to help our neighbors
in need.
Not only on this Thanksgiving, but each and every day,
we all
have a lot to be thankful for.
GREAT
JOB! Thank
You! Thank You! Thank you!
Pictures from Sandy Detwiler
11/28/09 Lots of tires, lots of sandbags, lots of
help!!
Thanks to all that helped with the tires and all who filled and moved
those wet, heavy sandbags.
Marty Meyer's photos taken Wednesday afternoon
11/25/09
The sand is being sucked out.
PLEASE - DO NOT WALK
or CLIMB on the sand in front of the homes along the waterfront - this
area is EXTREMELY FRAGILE!!!
POSTED
- Wednesday,
11/25/09 pm -
NOTE:The beach continues to wash away. We are in need of old
carpet, padding, silt fence, Tyvek - Anything of that nature that can be
placed behind the row of tires. If you have any of these items,
just drop them off at the end of Ridge Road.
Also - We still need SANDBAGS!
Anyone wanting to fill sandbags - you are welcome to come at any time,
fill and leave them for others to place when and where needed. Please
only fill 3/4 or less - the bags are heavy and we are tired.
More homes are in danger (see photos below)
and we still need a lot of help.
Marty Meyer's photos taken Wednesday afternoon
11/25/09
The sand is being sucked out.
PLEASE - DO NOT WALK
or CLIMB on the sand in front of the homes along the waterfront - this
area is EXTREMELY FRAGILE!!!
POSTED
11/23/09
URGENTLY NEEDED
Request for Metal Fence Posts
Hello
again.
We are urgently looking for fence posts to secure the tires!!
Here are pictures at 4:00pm Monday afternoon. Sandbags
have been washing away all night!! We are trying to put more
tires out before high
tide tonight at 8:00pm.!!
Thanks
in advance!! Marty
High Tide 11/23/09
POSTED
Marty Meyer 11/23/09
To
all of the
"ALL
HANDS ON DECK"
VOLUNTEERS
GREAT
JOB!
Thank
You!
Thank You!
Thank you!
11/21/09 photos courtesy of the Klausner's
To all of the VOLUNTEER SANDBAGGERS
We asked for help and you came.
Young and old. You brought food, shovels, words of
encouragement, you changed your schedules, and you
worked until it hurt, all to
help our neighbors in
need. Not only on this Thanksgiving, but each and
every day, we all have a lot to be thankful
for.
POSTED 11/21/09 pm
KEEPING YOU INFORMED
The beach is off limits at this
time in front of the affected homes. PLEASE do not walk on the
sandbags!! The affected homeowners have been in meetings all week with County,
State, and Federal representatives discussing the short and long term
goals for these homeowners. We were not declared a disaster area
by the Governor, which hurts financially. Due to the massive
budgets it is going to be expensive for any repairs to be done.
The homeowners are waiting on recommendations from DNR, Army Corp of
Engineers and the Dept of the Environment. We will keep you posted on
their suggestions.
In the meantime, PLEASE do
not cross over the fence or ropes into the affected areas.
POSTED
11/21/09 am
Anyone with storm photos, please email them to me:
neeldestate@yahoo.com note: I
wasn't able to take photos - I was Sandbagging, so the only photos to be
posted on
our web site are the ones you send me. If you have large photo files, go
to www.shutterfly.com
and open a
free account. Upload your pictures and send me the link to your
photos
and I'll post them here.
I apologize for the delay in sending this letter, I have been adding
to it all week.
First and foremost,
how do even start to say Thank You to
so many??
For those who do not know, on Thursday, a handful of people were
able to secure all items from the beach front. After that, a
group of about 15 Thursday night were able to put out over
300 bags in front of the Meyer cottage in the pouring rain and
pounding surf, not stopping until every sand bag was used, finishing
close to Midnight. That effort
alone saved the Meyer cottage Thursday night.
On Friday at day break, I awoke to see
that a corner of our cottage unprotected was washing out at the
footers. As I walked past Anne Jones' kitchen window, she
opened it and in tears said "I am all alone, I need
help"! Indeed she did, her cottage foundation was also
washing away. 4 people started filling sand bags and I
alone, because I had the strength, carried those bags and placed
them in front of her cottage. This was the process for an
hour or more that morning. It was very scary since each
time I put a bag down and went back to get another, the first
one would wash away and more foundation would be undermined.
We just didn't stop working and did what we could!
Eventually as the day went on, more and
more and more people came to help!!! Most of you know
the story from there.
Because of EVERYONE'S
efforts that day, the cottages were saved! It
took every person who showed up to make that happen!!!
I cannot even begin to name them in person, but EVERY person
was IMPORTANT!!
So Please believe that I am writing
from my heart.
I would like very much to express my sincere Thanks
to all of you:
I want to Thank Every Federal, State and County
official who took phone calls over the weekend and changed their
agendas to meet at 10am Monday morning;
I Thank those same people, who right now, are in
meetings, taking action and sincerely helping as they said they
would;
I
want to Thank all
the Commissioners and staff who showed up on sight, who
made phone calls for help, carried sand bags and stood side by
side with neighbors all on a Friday night after a long work
week;
I want to Thank the Fire Departments personal
who carried sand bags and provided the light;
I Thank the EMS who made sure all were well; I Thank the Police who carried
sand bags and secured the area;
I want to Thank all the businesses, home chefs and
individuals who provided food, equipment and fuel all at
their own cost;
I want to Thank the 'wiser' folks who knew
their physical limits and helped where ever they could
calling for help and holding open sand bags to be filled;
I want to Thank the persons who had the muscle
to carry heavy loads;
I want to Thank those who gave up their personal
plans or traveled so far to be there; I want to Thank the great
neighbors, community and people I don't even know who
put in long hard hours;
I want to Thank the tweens/teens who twittered
friends to come help; and
I want to Thank the mom and dads who brought
their toddlers with little plastic shovels who helped fill
sand bags.
I will tell you, it literally took EVERY person that
came and helped to save those homes from falling
into the Chesapeake
Bay that day! It was their
efforts that made ALL the difference.
I am truly humbled that so many people helped so
few who were in need. I wish I could name them all, they
all deserve recognition.
On a personal note, I do need to identify two people who
helped me so very much. Many of you know I have a big white
fluffy cool cat who walks the beach and rides jet skies named
'Jake'. Jake developed an ulcer on his green eye several
days before. My good friend Peggy Clark came down
Thursday night to look at it and said Jake will need medical
help. On Friday, Peggy was willing to make calls
to the vet to discuss the problem who told her Jake needed immediate
emergency medical help asap or he would loose his eye.
Peggy made additional calls to set up the appointment.
Peggy then contacted her friend Marianne Frankhauser.
Since Peggy was working, Marianne, whom I don't even know, volunteered
almost her entire day, to drive down to Plum Point, pick up Jake,
drive all the way to Annapolis to the vet hospital, stayed
with Jake for the visit, called me several times about the status,
picked up all the medicines, pay up front for the visit, drove
Jake all the way back to Plum Point and gave me all the important
papers, instructions and medicine....all so I could stay at
Plum Point to focus on the efforts to save our homes! Because
of Peggy and Marianne's efforts, Jake is now doing better
and will keep his eye.
I feel so very humbled and thankful that a
stranger did that for me.
Once again, I Thank
You for the time many of you have put in and the well
wishes from many others. I have gotten calls from
people I have not heard from for many years expressing their
concern. I am truly blessed and
fortunate to have such wonderful neighbors, friends and
family. Thanksgiving
has a whole new meaning for us this year!
This
year, our family will be having Thanksgiving Diner on our porch only
because YOUsaved it!! If anyone who
came to help and will be alone on Thanksgiving
Day, Please let me know and come join us for
diner.
I can't say it enough, I still find it awe inspiring that SO many
people helped in SO many capacities. Like I mentioned,
it literally TOOK THAT MANY PEOPLE to save our homes.
It was a race against mother nature and we have won so far!!
Sincerely
and Warmly, Thank you all!!!
Marty Meyer, Jake and the Meyer Family
(Please
forward this message to everyone deserving who may not see
it on the web site. I am still hearing about sacrifices people
made that day for us.)
This message to you will be my last official
letter as President of NECA. First and foremost I want to echo what Anne
Jones has already said and the two words thank you just don’t seem big
enough to express my gratitude for helping five families save their
houses this past weekend. Over 11 dump trucks of sand were filled into
bags which I am told is over 80 tons. The teenagers twittered their
friends and kids of all ages came to help. Once the story hit the news,
people who did not even belong to our community came with coffee, water
and food and other just to help to bag sand.
Many thanks to a few key individuals including
Marty Meyer who’s house was not only in danger but who also worked to
coordinate the relief effort. Kirby Jean drove bags in his truck from
the entrance way to take to the houses, Kenny Fraser drove the front end
loader, Fred Bauer helped the loading of bags into the transport
vehicles. Mike Matullo brought his heavy equipment in and had two of his
workers helping as well. We even had Todd Ireland, from the Calvert
County Sheriff’s office helping the folks out laying the sandbags
along the shoreline and he doesn’t even live in our community! If I
did not mention you by name don’t be offended but the list would go on
so long that I would not be able to finish this letter. The five
families most deeply affected have talked about a more formal thank you
event which we hope to be able to do next summer, so please email me
with your contact information if you were out there helping. (
I am sure you are all wondering what the next
steps are. For those of you living full-time in the community, you
should now see a sign at the top of Ridge Road, stating local
residents only. This is to keep the curiosity seekers out. We had
the State Roads Department down today and they have fenced off the beach
between the affected house and the harbor. The land between the Gordon’s
House and the Park’s house will be used by the county for emergency
erosion control management. The NECA B.O.D. met by phone over the
weekend and approved granting the county this resources in order to help
us. I apologize if this in an inconvenience but the good news is that we
are headed into the winter month’s so most of you won’t be walking
the beach. If you do walk the beach and come up from the south end, we
ask that you not go beyond Bill Park’s house. The area in front of the
affected houses is very fragile.
Also, today, Marty Meyer, Bill Parks, Anne Jones
and myself were at a meeting with the Calvert County Officials and
Tri-County Council as well as officials from the Governor’s office,
Senator’s Hoyer and Mikulski offices and Maryland Emergency
Management. They have agreed to call upon DNR, MD Dept of the
Environment and the Army Corps of Engineer to provide an assessment with
in 48 hours of what is the best short term solution. We also asked to
have our community to be declared a state disaster area so that federal
relief efforts would become available. I have been asked to be the
contact for Neeld Estate so if you have suggestions, concerns and
questions, please feels free to contact me at 443-995-3182.
Thanksgiving is next week and I know that have
much to be thankful for, especially the residents and friends of Neeld
Estate who came out to help not only my family but the Jones, Meyer,
Gordon and Park’s families. Lastly, I want to wish you all a wonderful
upcoming holiday season and prosperity in the New Year. I hope to see
you on the (rebuilt) beach next summer!
Mary Osbourn Reilly 11/17/09
Dear Neeld Estate Family,
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your tireless
efforts that saved my cottage and my neighbors' cottages.
What an unbelievable show of love, support and MUSCLE! You put
your lives on hold to fill, carry, stack sand bags, drive vehicles,
cook, bake, hand out food, call in support, give hugs, tell jokes, fill
more sand bags.... the list goes on and on. There was no question
in anyone's minds that this is where they needed to be. People
left work, pulled kids out of school, walked away from their busy
schedules to help, help, help. Two of you celebrated
birthdays on Friday - Carol (the big 50!) and Timmy (the big
21!) as you shoveled and stacked sand bags! What a way to
celebrate!
At one point Friday my brother told me to start
moving things off the porch because one pier had been knocked away by
the surf and the others could go at anytime. This was it.
The porch was going! Once everything was off the porch it was back
to sand bagging. I couldn't look at the cottage anymore. I
just had to sand bag. The sand bagging team was in high gear
cranking them out and the stacking team was battling the waves and cold
to try and build a wall of sand bags. The wind and waves kept
up even though the tide was supposed to be going out. I was trying
not to think of what was happening on the beach front as we all
just kept going. Finally I decided to look and what I saw brought
tears to my eyes. Thousands of sand bags were up against the front
of the cottages and the waves were hitting the wall of bags. It
was working! I looked at the people between the cottages
stacking the bags and the many people filling the bags and I just cried!
One by one, person after person, bag after bag - we were making a
difference! That was a turning point - there was hope!
This morning things look good as the sun is
shining and the waves are lapping at about a foot of beach in front of
the sand bags. I know I can speak for the Osborn, Meyer and
Gordon/Clark families in saying thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
This is just one more example of what a great community we live in.
Thank you one and all!
THANK YOU
To All of the Sandbaggers!
And to ALL of the many
VOLUNTEERS
11/16/09
-
Nor'easter tears beach at Neeld
Estate. Thank you to all who contributed to the effort to save the beach
houses.
Especially the Huntingtown VFD who provided the bags
for filling with sand and Calvert County who brought in several dumps
of sand.
I posted about 70 pictures from Friday,
November 13 at the Picasa site. You can access and download them
by clicking on the below link.
Chesapeake Bay Community Needs Help
Exhausted residents of the Neeld Estate Neighborhood near Plums Point
are
seeking help from volunteers and the National Guard.
PLUM POINT, Md. - With their homes perched on the edge of
destruction, residents of the Neeld Estate community in Calvert County
met with state and federal officials monday to plead for help.
Last week's nor'easter erased their protective beaches and sent waves
crashing against their homes' foundations.
Residents frantically filled sandbags to protect their property.
But while the nor'easter is long gone, their homes remain in danger.
Waves from the Chesapeake Bay continue to lap just inches from their
homes. Without the sandbags, the foundations would crumble, homeowners
fear.
"We're still very scared at the moment," said Marty Meyer.
"We are still very vulnerable."
But the pull of the retreating waves is sucking the sandbags into bay.
If they go, the water will slam directly into the homes
According to Meyer that would "actually bust the foundation out, so
we are still in extreme danger at this point."
On Monday, three days after the storm, the county sent in workers to
fence off the sandbags to keep people from walking on them.
Workers fence off the sandbags
protecting
the home.
Representatives from the governor's office and Maryland's Emergency
Management Agency met with local officials and the residents of Neeld
estate. They agreed to make an assessment of the situation within 48
hours. One home could be condemned because the water wore away the
foundation.
"So that we can get a short-term and long-term solution to the
problem," said Wilson Parran, president of the Calvert Board of
County Commissioners.
While they are trying to come up with a way to force the water back,
county officials addressed criticism that they did not act fast enough
to help the residents.
"The county, I think, was responsive," said Terry Shannon, the
Calvert County administrator. "We came out with several truckloads
of sand, thousands of sandbags."
When asked why the county did not formally ask the governor for help.
The county's head of emergency response said the situation did not rise
to the level to warrant an appeal for the national guard.
"No, it did not rise to that level," said Bobby Fenwick,
Calvert County's emergency management director. "Th[e] community
was present [and] was filling the sandbags, doing the thing that was
done for that private community was being handled."
Mary Reilly spent Monday assessing the damage to her home and worrying
about her husband. Paramedics had to treat him when he almost collapsed
from filling and hauling sandbags.
"I would have loved the National Guard," Reilly said.
"Am I upset? You know what, it's too late to throw stones. We did
whatever we could."
The residents are offering up a thank you to all the volunteers who
raced to help them shore up their homes in the face of the ferocious
storm.
HUNTINGTOWN, Md. (WUSA) --
Dozens of neighbors sprung into action Friday to save
one beachside row of houses threatened by the storm.
They spent countless hours
digging up dirt and packing sandbags. Then community members formed
assembly lines and passed the sandbags until they were able to salvage
three houses under siege.
Marty Meyer and his two siblings
live in one of the homes saved on Beach Drive in the Neeld Estates.
Their grandfather built the house decades ago when the shoreline was
nearly 40 yards away. On Friday, three days of thirty miles per hour
winds and relentless waves had the water crashing their foundation.
"This is the first time
it's ever been this bad," said Meyer. "We've had the
community down here helping to save these two homes here. My
neighbor's foundation was underwashed. My foundation was underwashed.
It's scary. It makes your stomach drop."
Fast moving neighbors caught
word of the situation earlier today and volunteered to help. They used
spotlights and major machinery to facilitate the work. The Huntingtown
Volunteer Fire Department also parked their vehicles
nearby and used the side lights to illuminate the street.
"Some people were here last
night doing this. And since 11:00 this morning we've stacked 700
sandbags to save this house. It would have been gone," said Dan
Garner, one of the neighbors moving sandbags.
Garner pointed to one family's
home where 14-year-old Morgan Jones described when they first realized
they were in big trouble.
"The water was coming up
through the heat vents and it was just splashing and it was
scary," she said.
High tide was at midnight and by
10:00 pm, most of the residents believed they'd survive the worst. In
just two days, they'd manage to stack several thousand sandbags to
save three homes.
Written by Brittany Morehouse 9NEWS NOW & wusa9.com
" It's volunteers that make an extra effort every day to strengthen
our relationships
in the community and help make Neeld Estate a wonderful place to
live"
The Neeld Estate
Beach is PRIVATELY OWNED
by the Neeld family
and can ONLY be used by
Residents of Neeld Estate
and their Guests Anyone else is TRESPASSING on Private Property
"Violators will be prosecuted by authority
of Plum Point Corp."
(Posted on the signs leading to the
beach)
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