"The water is going to come over the island and there will be no island, " said Barbara Epstein, a 73-year-old resident of nearby BarnegatLight, who added that she is considering moving after 12 years there.
The Akron crashed off the community of BarnegatLight just a few hours after taking off from Lakehurst, killing 73 of the 76 men aboard, largely because the ship had no life vests and only one rubber raft, according to Navy records and the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society.