I am in the midst of answering the question: Why would anyone want to live on a coastal island? After all, no less an authority than Orrin H. Pilkey, Jr., deemed "America’s foremost philosopher of the beaches," by the New York Times, and James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Geology at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University writes: “We strongly recommend against barrier island property purchase. Better to choose a high elevation inland site.”
Over the next few weeks, I am focusing my blogs on drilling down into Pilkey's recommendation for several reasons. First, I live on a barrier island and I own two ocean front properties on that barrier island, Bogue Banks, in Emerald Isle, NC. And, I've owned these two properties for well over 20 years. Second, I am a real estate agent who sells real estate in Emerald Isle, NC and elsewhere on the Crystal Coast. Third, I know Dr. Pilkey's research intimately. Fourth, I know Dr. Pilkey, personally.
In the previous blog, I described how mudslides effect many California residents. With a tip of the hat to the Grateful Dead: “If the thunder don’t get you, the lightning will.” So, while homeowners in California and other western states are waiting for the rains to end severe drought, forest fires, often sparked by lightning usually make their devastating appearance. Much like hurricanes, and mudslides, wildfires do have their season but have been known to crop up at many different times during the year.
In 1871, the worst recorded forest fire in North American history raged through Northeastern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. Known as The Great Peshtigo Fire, it destroyed millions of dollars’ worth of property and took between 1,200 and 2,400 lives. The anonymity of this conflagration is attributed to another, more famous fire that very same year that occurred in Chicago.
Another wildfire in 1910, the Big Burn, tore through 3 million acres in Idaho and Montana and claimed 85 lives. The extensively burned area was approximately the size of the state of Connecticut.
Think huge fires only happened in the times of our grand and great grandparents? Then consider the 1991 fires that took place in Oakland, California. It destroyed over 3,000 homes, cost over billion dollars, and killed 25 people, with another 150 injured. The fire is suspected to have begun from a poorly extinguished grass fire.
Or, look at the Cedar Fire of 2003. This wildfire is current enough to have been reported on cable news. It was an 18 mile wall of flames in southern California that claimed the lives of over 20 people.
And, in 2017, almost 2 million acres of land, an area nearly the size of Rhode Island and Delaware combined, were ablaze, killing dozens of people and destroying thousands of homes and businesses.
And, we haven’t even discussed the large elephant in the room: earthquakes but that is for yet another blog....tomorrow. I could go on but I think it is abundantly clear that moving to the west coast and California inland does not mitigate weather events from threatening your home. But there is more than simply mudslides and forest fires in California. Return to this blog to learn what other weather dangers residents of California face on a daily basis. That being said, to learn more about life in Emerald Isle, NC, go to my website, www.EIHomesforSale.com and request my free Guide to Living Were You Vacation or text your email address to: 919-308-2292.
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