A shark was spotted swimming through flooded streets in New Jersey over the weekend as a violent nor’easter battered the coast, as reported [1] by The New York Post.
The alarming sight unfolded in Surf City, where floodwaters transformed a residential area into an unlikely route for marine life.
A local captured video of the shark moving through the water on Saturday, according to footage obtained by ABC News.
Its dorsal fin could be seen breaking the surface near a woman’s driveway as the fish traveled through the flooded neighborhood.
The scene quickly produced understandable alarm from the woman watching the shark approach. “Is that a little shark?” she asks in the clip. “Oh my God, he’s coming this way.”
The shark reportedly swam near the resident’s home on Long Beach Island after Barnegat Bay flooded over in Surf City.
The community was inundated with as much as four feet of water during the powerful coastal storm.
Despite the unsettling spectacle, the shark did not appear to be one of the more dangerous varieties associated with sharp teeth.
Dr. Greg Skomal identified it as an apparently “harmless” dogfish, a type of shark common to the area.
Skomal is a white shark expert with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.
According to his assessment, the dogfish seen moving through the floodwater does not have sharp teeth, offering some welcome reassurance amid an otherwise startling scene.
The video showed the animal’s dorsal fin poking above the surface as it moved near the driveway.
With ordinary streets buried beneath stormwater, the shark appeared where residents would normally expect vehicles and pedestrians, not marine wildlife.
The unusual encounter came while the nor’easter caused widespread flooding along the East Coast.
The storm also brought winds reaching up to 70 mph, adding another serious hazard as water poured into coastal communities.
Those powerful winds knocked out electricity for thousands as the storm battered the region.
In Surf City, however, the sight of a shark swimming through a flooded residential street provided one of the weekend’s most striking images.
Barnegat Bay flooding left parts of Surf City covered by water, including the area near the resident’s home.
The reported depth reached as much as four feet, creating conditions that allowed the dogfish to move far beyond its normal surroundings.
The woman’s reaction in the video captured the surprise of seeing the shark heading in her direction. Her questions came as the animal’s fin remained visible above the floodwater near the driveway.
The shark identification significantly lowered the threat level surrounding the encounter.
While the word shark naturally draws attention, Skomal’s description indicated that this particular visitor was a dogfish without the sharp teeth that might have made the scene far more dangerous.
Still, a shark cruising beside a home is hardly a routine neighborhood sight.
The footage illustrated the extent of flooding in Surf City, where water from Barnegat Bay spread through streets and reached residential property during the weekend storm.
The nor’easter’s effects stretched beyond the New Jersey shark sighting, with widespread East Coast flooding and power outages affecting thousands.
For one Surf City resident, the storm also delivered a front row view of a dogfish moving through water near her driveway.
The encounter combined the destructive force of the coastal storm with an unexpected visitor from the water.
Thankfully, the shark that surfaced in the flooded street was identified as a common local dogfish considered “harmless,” even if its approaching fin offered a memorable jolt.