We Need to Retreat From the Beach

[XemaSab]

AS ocean waters warm, the Northeast is likely to face more Sandy-like storms. And as sea levels continue to rise, the surges of these future storms will be higher and even more deadly. We can’t stop these powerful storms. But we can reduce the deaths and damage they cause.

Hurricane Sandy’s immense power, which destroyed or damaged thousands of homes, actually pushed the footprints of the barrier islands along the South Shore of Long Island and the Jersey Shore landward as the storm carried precious beach sand out to deep waters or swept it across the islands. This process of barrier-island migration toward the mainland has gone on for 10,000 years.

Yet there is already a push to rebuild homes close to the beach and bring back the shorelines to where they were. The federal government encourages this: there will be billions available to replace roads, pipelines and other infrastructure and to clean up storm debris, provide security and emergency housing. Claims to the National Flood Insurance Program could reach $7 billion. And the Army Corps of Engineers will be ready to mobilize its sand-pumping dredges, dump trucks and bulldozers to rebuild beaches washed away time and again.

But this “let’s come back stronger and better” attitude, though empowering, is the wrong approach to the increasing hazard of living close to the rising sea. Disaster will strike again. We should not simply replace all lost property and infrastructure. Instead, we need to take account of rising sea levels, intensifying storms and continuing shoreline erosion.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/15/opinion/a-beachfront-retreat.html?hpw

[xxqqqzme]

1. While I agree w/ the

inevitability of what awaits beach communities, as a beach community resident, it would be very, very difficult for me to leave the beach. I know Atlantic beaches are different but I would miss the Pacific salt smell, the breezes, the sunsets & sunrises. Seeing dolphins playing in the early morning surf. And even the storms moving through. I just can't imagine living w/o the ocean exposure.

[joshcryer]

2. We need to start moving about 300k people a year.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11279821

[hatrack]

3. But . . . but PROPERTY VALUES! But . . . but . . . FREEDOM!!!!

[madrchsod]

4. the insurance rates will dictate the movement from the coast.

i think insurance rates will escalate well into the future if we decide to keep building on the coastlines.