Sandbags remain hard problem to solve along N.C. coast


Sandbags and coastal flooding,North Carolina. Photo source: ©© NCDOTcommunications

Excerpts;

Make an earnest effort to remove the sandbags from your beach.

That was the message the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) sent Wednesday in Atlantic Beach to an engineer representing The Riggings, a Kure Beach condominium complex that has emerged as the poster child for how the supposed-to-be-temporary fix has become permanent in some spots.

Under state law, sandbags are only supposed to stay on the beach for a two- to five-year window. The 48-condominium complex has been protected by sandbags since it was built in 1985 between Fort Fisher and a coquina rocks outcrop…

WATCH: PHOTOS: Recent history of sandbags along the N.C. coast

Read Full Article, Star News Online (02-08-2017)

The short-sighted politics of sea-level rise in North Carolina; By Orrin Pilkey, News Observer (09-30-2016)

New Rules to Ease Sandbag Restrictions, NC; Coastal Review Online (11-21-2015)

Sandbagged: The Undoing of a Quarter Century of North Carolina Coastal Conservation, Op Ed by Gary Lazorick (07-04-2011)
Rows of houses with overlapping sandbag walls create huge problems. The walls do as much damage to the beach as hardened seawalls. Removing the sandbags from one property potentially damages all of the others…

Seawall ‘Option’ Won’t Wash, Post & Courier, (10-23-2014)
Hard erosion control devices aren’t generally allowed on South Carolina beaches, and with good reason. Here’s why: Seawalls actually can accelerate erosion, often on adjacent property.

“Seawalls Kill Beaches,” Open Letters by Warner Chabot And Rob Young, (10-03-2014)

“Engineering away our natural defenses: An analysis of shoreline hardening in the US,” A Study by By Rachel K. Pittman, ResearchGate (08-08-2015)
Rapid coastal population growth and development are primary drivers of marine habitat degradation. Although shoreline hardening, a byproduct of development, can accelerate erosion and loss of beaches and tidal wetlands, it is a common practice globally. 22,842 km of continental U.S. shoreline, 14% of the total, has been hardened…

“North Carolina: The Beaches Are Moving,” A Video featuring Orrin Pilkey, PhD
World famous coastal geologist Orrin H. Pilkey takes us to the beach and explains why erosion has become a problem…

North Carolina Should Move With Nature on Coast, News Observer (01-05-2015)

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