Outer Banks Beach Erosion

Outer banks beach nourishment is an initiative to protect the coast from slow erosion.

Outer banks beach erosion. Jesse costa wbur these beaches are doomed says orrin pilkey a professor at duke university and an octogenarian prophet. A view of rodanthe beach on north carolina s outer banks. Wavy visitors to a stretch of beach along the outer banks of north carolina are met with a startling sight erosion you almost have to see to believe. The outer banks are not anchored to offshore coral reefs like some other barrier islands and as a consequence they often suffer significant beach erosion during major storms.

In the outer banks officials and property owners battle to keep the ocean at bay. Highway 12 the dominant road running through the outer banks is cleaned and repaired on a regular basis. With the rising of the oceans all around the planet you will find the oceanfront and bay front properties eroding all across the us regardless of what you might have heard and the outer banks is no different. Beach nourishment projects have been started in nags head and are proposed in a few other outer banks areas.

In fact their location jutting out into the atlantic makes them the most hurricane prone area north of florida for both landfalling storms and brushing storms offshore. Many homes have been bolstered with stilts and some have been picked up and moved. Nags head s nourishment project has created a renaissance for the erosion prone areas. Storm driven waves frequently uncover shipwrecks on outer banks beaches but severe erosion near buxton found something completely unexpected days ago.

A lost part of the historic cape hatteras. Generally the erosion rate is minimal and not much of a concern but there are areas where the beach erosion is accelerated. Creeping sea levels and erosion rates are lapping at the shores of the outer banks according to a report examining the threat of climate change on some of the country s most beloved natural.