Wherever you choose to build or purchase coastal property you accept risk. That risk may come in the form of dramatic storms like hurricanes and nor’easters that can damage property in a matter of hours or the risk may develop more gradually, the product of the daily forces of wind, waves and tides. In either case, the end product of all that risk is beach erosion.
And, the rate at which a beach is eroding should be, in my estimation, a key factor in selecting which coastal community on what barrier island you purchase a residence. That’s because the barrier islands off the North Carolina mainland, known collectively as the Outer Banks, do not erode at the same rate. Generally speaking, beaches on the northern Outer Banks face east and these beaches are eroding at a much higher rate than those on the southern Outer Banks which face south. Indeed, these south facing islands, Bogue Banks included, not only report lower erosion rates than their northern brethren, but some like Bogue Banks also report gains in sand or accretion.
I’ll get into the “Whys” behind beach erosion and accretion in another post but for today, I simply want to evaluate and compare the historic erosion risk factor along the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
The northern most Outer Banks barrier islands, Currituck and Body are no longer islands at all! Indeed, because of shifting sand and storms over hundreds of years, Currituck Banks and Body Island have morphed into one contiguous peninsula, connected to the mainland at Sandbridge, Virginia. This 72 mile long peninsula is home to the coastal towns of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head. Early development in these small fishing communities was severely hindered by all the havoc caused by the shifting sands and raging storms.
However, in the 1930’s our Federal Government boldly went where no other agency had gone before and constructed a huge artificial dune the entire length of the peninsula. The envisioned end product of this massive undertaking was to protect the several coastal communities from flooding and erosion. Nonetheless, in Kitty Hawk and other Body island communities, the erosion and flooding continues to this day and the ocean tides have displaced and destroyed many an oceanfront property. Why, you may ask? Apparently, the real end product of this massive artificial dune is a peninsula cut off from wave actions responsible for depositing sand from offshore bars onto the beaches. In the end, we have a peninsula starved for sand, a peninsula that is lower and thinner than it otherwise would be.
What does a lower and thinner island mean to residents of Duck, Kitty Hawk and Nags Head? For starters, weaker and weaker storms have the capacity to have greater and greater impact on the communities and their beaches. As you drive down NC 12 in Kitty Hawk you’ll see many places where houses no longer exist between the road and the ocean, a result of beaches, dunes and backyards lost to encroaching waves. In the tourist town of Nags Head, million dollar homes are relying on sandbags to keep from toppling into the ocean. How’s that working? Cliff Ogburn a the Town manager of Nags Head once said, “We are losing infrastructure, we are losing streets, we are losing power lines, we are losing water lines, we are losing beaches and we are losing homes.” Yikes.
Good news! Beach erosion of the kind I just described does NOT happen in Emerald Isle or Bogue Banks. To learn more about erosion, visit my website, www.EIHomesforSale.com for a free Guide to Living Where You vacation, or text your email address to: 919-308-2292. And, subscribe to my YouTube channel for weekly updates on Emerald Isle @ Emerald Isle Vacation Home Specialist.
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