• NC beach homes and coast are ‘doomed’ and residents need to get out, sc

    From Bucko@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 24 02:40:52 2018
    XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.democrats.d, alt.politics.elections

    wrote

    NC beach homes and coast are ‘doomed’ and residents need to get out, scientist says
    BY ABBIE BENNETT, Aug 21, 2018, newsobserver.com

    There’s a “disaster” approaching North Carolina’s coast, and it’s not
    a hurricane. It’s an increasingly encroaching sea, Orrin Pilkey says.

    An award-winning Duke University professor emeritus of geology, who is
    also the founder and director emeritus of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, Pilkey doesn’t
    mince words when it comes to sea level rise.

    “These beaches are doomed,” Pilkey has said, multiple times — most
    recently in The Washington Post and in an interview with The News &
    Observer. “The buildings are doomed, too.”

    Rising sea levels will likely prove the first global calamity from
    climate change, Pilkey told The News & Observer. Climate scientists
    view sea level rise as one of the most obvious signals of a warming
    planet.

    Sea level rise is an imminent threat to North Carolina’s 18 barrier
    islands — the Outer Banks — and the area just behind, the Inner Banks,
    which could be two of the most devastated areas, Pilkey said.

    Parts of the world are seeing sea levels rise far beyond average, and
    it’s just a matter of time before some areas are overwhelmed with sea
    water, studies show.

    The East Coast of the U.S. is experiencing “sunny day flooding” that scientists didn’t expect for decades.

    Sea levels are rising at a rate of about an inch per year (5 inches
    from 2011-15) in some areas along the East Coast, from North Carolina
    to Florida, according to one study — that’s faster than researchers
    expected.

    The solution, Pilkey said, is to move inland.

    “Except for timing, there is no controversy among scientists regarding
    the rise in sea levels,” Pilkey said. “We need to plan now for
    retreat.”

    Disappearing beaches

    There are “slight differences” to the degree of sea level rise
    different parts of North Carolina are experiencing, but it’s happening “virtually everywhere, and it’s accelerating,” Pilkey said.

    To those who say the coast is always changing, and that sea level rise
    is not happening, or is not a significant threat, Pilkey says, “You’ve
    got to learn about tidal flooding.”

    Residents of coastal communities most often feel the effects of sea
    level rise during increasingly frequent and worsening tidal flooding,
    major storms and when large swathes of beach are eroded away and
    require renourishment.

    The costly effort of dredging sand from the bottom of the ocean and
    piling it onto beaches in an attempt to rebuild North Carolina’s — or
    any state’s — coastline has been the preferred solution to maintaining
    the shoreline and protecting coastal properties for generations. But
    it’s needed more and more, Pilkey said. And “it’s an exercise in
    futility.”

    “You’re holding shoreline where it doesn’t want to be,” he said.

    Nags Head beaches in Dare County are eroding at a rate of about 6 feet
    per year, according to the N.C. Division of Coastal Management.

    The town of Nags Head is “spending $48 million — and raising taxes for property owners — dredging sand from the sea floor and pumping it onto beaches,” The Washington Post reported.

    Some areas of beach, including near the Bodie Island Lighthouse, are
    eroding at rates of nearly 10 feet per year, according to NCDCM.

    There is constant flux for many parts of North Carolina’s beaches, and barrier islands naturally migrate, but renourished beaches disappear
    “at least two times faster than natural beaches,” Pilkey said.

    As sea levels rise, more beaches likely will be nourished.

    “I think the time will come when the public will no longer be willing
    to pay for this,” Pilkey said.

    “There’s already the attitude of ‘I wasn’t dumb enough to build a
    house right next to the beach, why should I pay for it?’”

    ‘Sheer madness’

    Measures can be taken to mitigate storm damage — such as construction
    and setback regulations, updating flood plain maps, buying out
    storm-damaged properties, and raising buildings up on stilts — but
    those efforts will not address the permanent effects of expected sea
    level rise, Pilkey said.

    Continued construction on or near replenished beaches is “sheer
    madness,” he said, since it puts more structures in threatened areas
    and can contribute to erosion.

    Even buildings on higher elevations are in danger, if infrastructure
    such as roads are chronically flooded by increasing sea level rise,
    Pilkey said. And in the event of storms, evacuation of at-risk areas
    will be increasingly difficult.

    The solution is for residents of these threatened areas to move
    inland, he said.

    “If my parents were to ask me where to buy a house in North Carolina,
    I would tell them to stick to the mainland,” Pilkey said. “People
    living there now should be taking a long view.”

    https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article217026850.html


    I wonder if their Gawd is gonna pitch in and help them for a change?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Bucko@21:1/5 to All on Sun Feb 17 01:29:19 2019
    XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.democrats.d, alt.politics.elections

    wrote

    NC beach homes and coast are ‘doomed’ and residents need to get out, scientist says
    BY ABBIE BENNETT, Aug 21, 2018, newsobserver.com

    There’s a “disaster” approaching North Carolina’s coast, and it’s not
    a hurricane. It’s an increasingly encroaching sea, Orrin Pilkey says.

    An award-winning Duke University professor emeritus of geology, who is
    also the founder and director emeritus of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, Pilkey doesn’t
    mince words when it comes to sea level rise.

    “These beaches are doomed,” Pilkey has said, multiple times — most
    recently in The Washington Post and in an interview with The News &
    Observer. “The buildings are doomed, too.”

    Rising sea levels will likely prove the first global calamity from
    climate change, Pilkey told The News & Observer. Climate scientists
    view sea level rise as one of the most obvious signals of a warming
    planet.

    Sea level rise is an imminent threat to North Carolina’s 18 barrier
    islands — the Outer Banks — and the area just behind, the Inner Banks,
    which could be two of the most devastated areas, Pilkey said.

    Parts of the world are seeing sea levels rise far beyond average, and
    it’s just a matter of time before some areas are overwhelmed with sea
    water, studies show.

    The East Coast of the U.S. is experiencing “sunny day flooding” that scientists didn’t expect for decades.

    Sea levels are rising at a rate of about an inch per year (5 inches
    from 2011-15) in some areas along the East Coast, from North Carolina
    to Florida, according to one study — that’s faster than researchers
    expected.

    The solution, Pilkey said, is to move inland.

    “Except for timing, there is no controversy among scientists regarding
    the rise in sea levels,” Pilkey said. “We need to plan now for
    retreat.”

    Disappearing beaches

    There are “slight differences” to the degree of sea level rise
    different parts of North Carolina are experiencing, but it’s happening “virtually everywhere, and it’s accelerating,” Pilkey said.

    To those who say the coast is always changing, and that sea level rise
    is not happening, or is not a significant threat, Pilkey says, “You’ve
    got to learn about tidal flooding.”

    Residents of coastal communities most often feel the effects of sea
    level rise during increasingly frequent and worsening tidal flooding,
    major storms and when large swathes of beach are eroded away and
    require renourishment.

    The costly effort of dredging sand from the bottom of the ocean and
    piling it onto beaches in an attempt to rebuild North Carolina’s — or
    any state’s — coastline has been the preferred solution to maintaining
    the shoreline and protecting coastal properties for generations. But
    it’s needed more and more, Pilkey said. And “it’s an exercise in
    futility.”

    “You’re holding shoreline where it doesn’t want to be,” he said.

    Nags Head beaches in Dare County are eroding at a rate of about 6 feet
    per year, according to the N.C. Division of Coastal Management.

    The town of Nags Head is “spending $48 million — and raising taxes for property owners — dredging sand from the sea floor and pumping it onto beaches,” The Washington Post reported.

    Some areas of beach, including near the Bodie Island Lighthouse, are
    eroding at rates of nearly 10 feet per year, according to NCDCM.

    There is constant flux for many parts of North Carolina’s beaches, and barrier islands naturally migrate, but renourished beaches disappear
    “at least two times faster than natural beaches,” Pilkey said.

    As sea levels rise, more beaches likely will be nourished.

    “I think the time will come when the public will no longer be willing
    to pay for this,” Pilkey said.

    “There’s already the attitude of ‘I wasn’t dumb enough to build a
    house right next to the beach, why should I pay for it?’”

    ‘Sheer madness’

    Measures can be taken to mitigate storm damage — such as construction
    and setback regulations, updating flood plain maps, buying out
    storm-damaged properties, and raising buildings up on stilts — but
    those efforts will not address the permanent effects of expected sea
    level rise, Pilkey said.

    Continued construction on or near replenished beaches is “sheer
    madness,” he said, since it puts more structures in threatened areas
    and can contribute to erosion.

    Even buildings on higher elevations are in danger, if infrastructure
    such as roads are chronically flooded by increasing sea level rise,
    Pilkey said. And in the event of storms, evacuation of at-risk areas
    will be increasingly difficult.

    The solution is for residents of these threatened areas to move
    inland, he said.

    “If my parents were to ask me where to buy a house in North Carolina,
    I would tell them to stick to the mainland,” Pilkey said. “People
    living there now should be taking a long view.”

    https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article217026850.html


    I wonder if their Gawd is gonna pitch in and help them for a change?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)