Expected to move little through the weekend, the storm's position is fueling strong winds from the northeast, producing higher than normal tides and driving powerful waves onto coastal beaches, said Bill Eiser, an oceanographer with the state's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.
"If it sits out there, you just keep getting pounded at every high tide," he said.
Hunting Island loses an average of 15 feet of sand a year. Last year's barrage of East Coast storms sapped as much as 50 feet of sand in some places. Congress earmarked $150,000 for emergency nourishment in the center of the beach in the spring that included dumping 78,000 cubic yards of sand on the beach.
Although the Atlantic has seen a record number of tropical storms this year, the East Coast has remained largely untouched until now. But this week, the slowly building storm began providing the rough surf that has quickly drained Hunting Island's beach.
"It's already eating at us," said Ray Stevens, the park's manager.
As the storm pulls sand off the beach, it can leave small ledges in the sand. Park staff are monitoring the 14 remaining loggerhead turtle nests expected to hatch in the coming weeks as new turtles face those potentially 4- and 5-foot drops to get to the water.
Last year, park staff and volunteers designed make-shift ramps in the sand for the turtles to manage, and Stevens said they might need to make similar concessions if Ophelia maintains its course nearby.
The park is due for long-term relief for its erosion problem early next year when the state's Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism is scheduled to begin an $8.3 million state-funded
nourishment project.
The project will involve adding 1.5 million cubic yards of sand and installing nine groins -- sand-trapping structures built perpendicular to the beach -- that are expected to reduce erosion by 9 feet a year.