MARGATE Hannah Bychick was having a slow Saturday on Argyle Avenue.

Bychick works as a beach-tag attendant just feet from the remains of what was a nine-block lake on Margates beach, a product of flooding during rainstorms last weekend and man-made dunes built under the direction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The dunes are part of a $63.3 million project to place 3.8 million cubic yards of sand onto 8 miles of beach on Absecon Island from Atlantic City to Longport.

But that flooding which has since been pumped back toward the ocean has left a muddy eyesore for residents and visitors, and Bychick said shes seeing it in the lack of people walking onto her block of the beach.

MARGATE Shirley Frankel, a city resident for the past 50 years, cant look at the ocean fr

As of 11 a.m., she said, she could count on her hand how many people have walked through the mud to the beach.

Its literally like four people, said Bychick, of Margate. People usually walk up and leave because its really gross.

Most people were avoiding the area altogether. A few managed to walk around the former lake to get to the ocean. Many people gathered at the end of the Ventnor Boardwalk, which ends at the Margate border, to get a look at the piece of land no one is walking on.

All Margate beaches were reopened this weekend for the first time since the flooding, with the exception of Huntington Avenue, which is hosting heavy equipment from the beach fill contractor, Weeks Marine of Cranford, Union County.

MARGATE Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez on Thursday issued a restraining

On Thursday, Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Julio Mendez issued a restraining order to temporarily stop the dune project in the city for one week. Officials from the city, Army Corps and state Department of Environmental Protection are to meet on the issue, and the DEP and Army Corps have until Wednesday to file briefs on short- and long-term solutions to the drainage problems.

All parties are to return to Mendezs courtroom Friday for another hearing.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Russo, mayor of neighboring Longport, issued a statement late Friday saying it is yet unclear whether beach work will be diverted to Ventnor or Longport but that he would prefer it not start in Longport until after the summer, as was previously scheduled.

If that is not the case, the Borough of Longport will prepare contingency plans that all scheduled activities occur in a safe and meaningful manner, Russo wrote.

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Crowds avoid Margate beaches where flooding occurred - Press of Atlantic City