As mentioned in the last several blogs, 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.
As I wrote in the previous blog, forest fires have a way of making living in California very challenging and, at times, very dangerous. Indeed, 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.
Striking early in the morning of April 18, the "Great Quake" of 1906 leveled more than 80 percent of San Francisco, California. Tremors from the shaking caused by rupture and horizontal displacement of the San Andreas fault were felt from southern Oregon to southern California and inland to central Nevada. Altogether, at least 3,000 died from the earthquake and subsequent fires.
History has a way of repeating itself and, on October 17, 1989, while thousands were attending a World Series baseball game that millions were watching on television, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit the San Francisco Bay Area, again, killing 67 people and causing more than $5 billion in damages, the costliest natural disaster in the United States at the time.
Neither of these earthquakes compares in size and scope to the Kern County earthquake of 1952 which caused immense and widespread damage. Emanating from the heart of California, tremors were felt to the east in Reno, Nevada, the north in San Francisco, and to the south in Los Angeles and San Diego as well.
Once, again, it would appear that it takes a gambler’s mentality to live, let alone own property, in California, too. However, since California is the most populous state in the United States, there’s not much traction for returning this vast portion of America to its natural state.
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. So, now that I've demonstrated that living in the midwest and west does not mitigate the perils of weather, like Dr. Pilkey might suggest, where can you live in the United States, free from the ravages of major weather events? Return tomorrow as I investigate what living in the Northeast is like, vis-a-vis weather events. 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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