"Superstorm" Sandy continued to erode the beach with relentless and sustaining high winds and waves on October 28,2012.
Photos of the Virginia Beach pier were a good degree of how high the surf was growing as the day wore on and Sandy traveled up the east coast.
But this coastal city was alert for her. Waves off the coast were reported to be 24', and Virginia Beach began setting up emergency shelters.
High winds and biting sand and rain stung tourists and locals who were routinely chased from sightseeing by local police, and fearing the ever imposing surf would flood the boardwalk and wash them and their cars away.
The city had postponed erecting the additional lights needed for the annual Boardwalk Christmas display and even dismantled some when the storm suddenly posed a threat to coastal Virginia this past week.
Temperatures registered around 63 degrees,but Tropical Storm winds were reported to be sustaining at a chilly 40+ mph along with droves of sand racing across the ocean front and eroding this normally pristine white beach.
It's rare for this beach to take a direct hit by a hurricane, so as the day wore on, or increasingly people showed up to watch the power this strange and historical weather phenomenon brought to the Atlantic.
The city had wisely spent the week preparing for Sandy with power trucks out and alert to respond to each power outage,lest they accumulate backed up and people would be without power longer.
Residents and city workers cleared the many drains throughout this low lying area to eliminate the flooding that was certain to occur from this huge storm.
Meteorologists warned that the Halloween storm, which ultimately devastated and crippled coastal cities in the northern US, and might cancel the holiday all together if she continued to grow and flood when she grazed this southern coast early October 29.
Source: cnn.com