Amid flooding and rising sea levels, residents of one barrier island wonder if it’s time to retreat

[Deleted User 276]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

[MonarchMom]

Visited there many times. Lovely place but only 3' above sea level, and losing ground even before Dorian hit it with 7' flood waters. It is so easy for people to say "don't live there" but many have close ties to the community going back several generations and it is the only home they have every known. It is hard to relocate extended families and walk away from ancestral homes and businesses. And if you do walk away, you lose your home, your equity, your job and your community. Heartbreaking.

And with so many communities at risk, FEMA is no longer willing or able to offer the help it once did to rebuild or relocate. We need a comprehensive plan to help people leave these areas without going bankrupt.

Stanley Riggs devoted his career at East Carolina University to studying the state’s 10,000-mile coastline... and served on a state advisory panel that in 2010 predicted more than three feet of sea-level rise by 2100, prompting a backlash from lawmakers skeptical of climate change and developers.

A compromise bill, based on a shorter timeline, passed in 2012, even as the jeopardy has become clearer here: The coastline of Cape Hatteras, north of Ocracoke, is eroding rapidly, retreating by more than a mile since Hurricane Isabel in 2003; to the south, once-vibrant Portsmouth is a ghost town.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

[Deleted User 1461]

Yes the outer banks , Topsail Island, Wrightsville Beach - all off the coast of North Carolina , are gorgeous. I almost bought a little beach house about 20 years ago but couldn’t afford it. I loved it .
I hope they survive.
By the way, my three kids graduated from ECU. Wonderful college.

Visited there many times. Lovely hplace but only 3' above sea level, and losing ground even before Dorian hit it with 7' flood waters. It is so easy for people to say "don't live there" but many have close ties to the community going back several generations and it is the only home they have every known. It is hard to relocate extended families and walk away from ancestral homes and businesses. And if you do walk away, you lose your home, your equity, your job and your community. Heartbreaking.

And with so many communities at risk, FEMA is no longer willing or able to offer the help it once did to rebuild or relocate. We need a comprehensive plan to help people leave these areas without going bankrupt.

Stanley Riggs devoted his career at East Carolina University to studying the state’s 10,000-mile coastline... and served on a state advisory panel that in 2010 predicted more than three feet of sea-level rise by 2100, prompting a backlash from lawmakers skeptical of climate change and developers.

A compromise bill, based on a shorter timeline, passed in 2012, even as the jeopardy has become clearer here: The coastline of Cape Hatteras, north of Ocracoke, is eroding rapidly, retreating by more than a mile since Hurricane Isabel in 2003; to the south, once-vibrant Portsmouth is a ghost town.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

[Deleted User 276]

Visited there many times. Lovely place but only 3' above sea level, and losing ground even before Dorian hit it with 7' flood waters. It is so easy for people to say "don't live there" but many have close ties to the community going back several generations and it is the only home they have every known. It is hard to relocate extended families and walk away from ancestral homes and businesses. And if you do walk away, you lose your home, your equity, your job and your community. Heartbreaking.

And with so many communities at risk, FEMA is no longer willing or able to offer the help it once did to rebuild or relocate. We need a comprehensive plan to help people leave these areas without going bankrupt.

Stanley Riggs devoted his career at East Carolina University to studying the state’s 10,000-mile coastline... and served on a state advisory panel that in 2010 predicted more than three feet of sea-level rise by 2100, prompting a backlash from lawmakers skeptical of climate change and developers.

A compromise bill, based on a shorter timeline, passed in 2012, even as the jeopardy has become clearer here: The coastline of Cape Hatteras, north of Ocracoke, is eroding rapidly, retreating by more than a mile since Hurricane Isabel in 2003; to the south, once-vibrant Portsmouth is a ghost town.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

Agree. At some point barrier islands won't be able to rebuild - frankly so will other coastal areas. I understand FEMA mot being able to offer initial help but relocating communities has to become part of FEMA response, IMO. The number of people required to permanently relocate is only going to rise. USG should be prepared.