climate change is getting real for some. The outer banks

[captain queeg]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tiny-town-big-decision-willing-121315761.html

Of course these people want someone to spend a ton of money to save them. I don't have much sympathy for those who choose to build in hazardous locations.

[llmart]

1. I agree with you.

Most of the homes built right on the beach are second homes for the wealthy. If they lose their house to a storm, well, then that's the way the cookie crumbles. What do these people expect when they build on a sandbar?

I've been to many of these beaches up and down the Carolinas and this is going to be happening everywhere.

I also blame city planners for even allowing houses to be built so close to the ocean.

[alwaysinasnit]

2. I wonder how many of them believe the science behind climate change.

[Johnny2X2X]

21. Most probably do

I think the generalization of red states is harmful. Even in deep red states, there are still a ton of good Democrats, and in places like this, the science denying is probably quite low.

I know some great Democrats who live in states like Mississippi and South Carolina, can't lump everyone in a state all together.

[pfitz59]

3. Building on unstable cliffs, sand dunes, eroding beaches and in flood plains

is an American tradition. Most such locations are un-insurable, (except by the Feds). Strong planning codes will reduce the risk, but not entirely. Most red states abhor any sort of zoning or building codes, and then demand the feds pony up when their lack of planning goes awry. I say "Fuck 'em"

[scarytomcat]

17. The perfect place to build a nuclear power plant

shifting sands and all

[bullimiami]

4. its difficult and sad but its time to clear some of these barrier islands and restore beaches.

[dixiegrrrrl]

9. Been watching a barrier Island disappear in our area.

It's called Dauphin Island, and has been rebuilt every time a hurricane washed away the houses. The owners demanded the right to live there, on increasingly expensive homes, and for ages the state would truck in mountains of dredged sane to raise the island a couple of feet.
Katrina cut the island in two, and for the first time the re-building questions were seriously talked about.

"building houses on shifting sands" is a damn reality...it's insane.

[misanthrope]

11. My wife's family has a vacation house there

Her father bought it back in the 1960s. When we first started dating some 25 years back, her divulgence of that fact informed me how poor her father's judgement was.

The eastern end of the island is somewhat stable, with a forested area, a spring-fed lake and bird sanctuary nestled behind sizable dunes facing the Gulf. The western end is a miles-long sandbar unwise for construction or much of anything.

My in-laws, of course, bought a house on the west end. For years, I've told my wife the best thing they could have ever done was to sell that money pit as quickly as possible. I reiterated it after her father died 20 years ago. I said so again after hurricanes wiped all the houses between their place and surf. I shrugged and bit my tongue when Katrina cleaved it in two.

Now that both parents are gone, her sister got the house from the estate and sunk tens of thousands of dollars into its renovation. They have to be fools not to know what's coming. It will all end up in the Gulf and my only reaction will be silence.

Their behavior is part of "the problem."

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. I was in Mobile in 1988 and thought about beach property

Hurricanes had been quiet for some time, and you tend to think that if others are living in such a place, it must be safe.

But, learned at the same time about the hows and whys of barrier islands and how the waves actually move them over time, never mind the big storms.
At same time, discovered Biloxi and Ocean Springs, this was before the casinos,
In the end, given my intense job, I didn't buy, and eventually moved
to a job up in Monroe county. Lovely solid house surrounded by enough woods to blunt even Hurricane Ivan.Been here 15 years, haven't moved one stick of furniture in the house, it fits us like a hand sewn glove.
Glad I saved the house money for thisone.

[Celerity]

20. 'mountains of dredged sane'

best weapon against QMAGAtry

[Luciferous]

5. It's insane to keep rebuilding or fixing these areas when they are going to continue

to have the same problems.

[hatrack]

6. "Shocked, shocked!" said no one who's been paying attention AT ALL for the last 30 years

[scarletwoman]

7. They really ought to get out while the getting's good. It won't be too long before there'll be LOTS

of climate change refugees from the coastal areas.

If these people move off the Outer Banks now, at least they'll have more options for relocating than they'll have if they wait.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. excellent point.

And yet.....so many refuse to change.
But I don't see how the problem is ignore-able any longer. It is literally in front of their noses.

[misanthrope]

12. I can't concur enough with this

The evidence has been shown.

[Wounded Bear]

8. Those are basically sand bars, barely above a rising sea level...

[Clash City Rocker]

13. Funny how many of these stories take place in the south

I try not to enjoy them, because I know there are good people who believe in climate change in every states. Hopefully the leaders who have been claiming it’s a hoax will pay a political price.

[Klaralven]

19. Beach Renourishment Along the Jersey Shore: A Never-Ending Task?

On a mild, clear February morning in Sea Bright, the Jersey Shore’s northernmost oceanfront borough, Jason Shea stood on the community’s towering seawall looking satisfied with the view before him. Just to the south, contractors were nearing completion of the Sea Bright portion of a $31.5 million Army Corps of Engineers beach renourishment, of which Shea is the project manager. The task includes pumping 1.6 million cubic yards of sand onto “reaches” in Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach and Long Branch. It is slated to be completed by the end of May.

Since the 1990s, when the Army Corps of Engineers began inking 50-year cost-sharing beach-building deals with Shore towns — with renourishment cycles that range from every two to seven years, depending on location — nearly $2 billiondollars and about 180 million cubic yards of sand have been dumped onto New Jersey’s beaches in order to keep them from disappearing. (The Sea Bright/Monmouth Beach/Long Branch project was initiated in 1994, meaning renourishment cycles will be considered every six years until 2044.)

https://www.njspotlight.com/2020/02/beach-renourishment-along-the-jersey-shore-a-never-ending-task/

[captain queeg]

14. I guess if they are rich and willing to rebuild over and over on their own nickel I don't care

But expecting and taxpayer funded help or projects should be a total none starter. That should go for roadways and bridges as well as any water control structures (especially).

I was out at the Oregon coast last week and homes were starting to slide down hill. I know there’d been some major efforts in the past to mitigate the surf. I asked a local about that and he just shook his head.

[sarcasmo]

15. Climate migration is real.

[Klaralven]

18. It's not that barrier islands are disappearing - they are just moving west

The problem is that people build roads and structures on them and want to keep them from doing what they naturally do.

It works for a while.

[diehardblue]

22. Builders destroy the dunes and the shoreline. Then residents declare the remains and the ocean

near their property as theirs. You are banned from even walking near the ocean and must pay to even go near the waterfront. Amelia Island is an example. The barriers no longer exist and the storms with so much water just feel free to roll in to the inland areas.

St Simons Island
Amelia Island
Sapelo Island
and so many more

Disgusting!