In a move that likely will be repeated by dozens of coastal communities over the next century, the Isle de Jean Charles band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians has decided to move from their home of more than 200 years before it erodes away.
For nearly a century, oceanside communities, particularly those along the Atlantic, have used beach nourishment to safeguard buildings and infrastructure from the erosive forces of waves and tidal action.
Flooding from rising sea levels is nothing new to South Carolina’s largest city. In the 1830s, the mayor offered a $100 gold medal to anyone who could come up with a solution. No one ever did.
Maintaining Route 12, the main highway serving the barrier island of Hatteras Island, N.C., is a near-constant battle against the elements. Now, instead of continuing the battle, the state has decided to move the road.
To combat rising waters and storm surge in Atlantic City, N.J., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is building a $34-million seawall-like project—the Absecon Inlet Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Structure.
Texas’ most vulnerable stretch of coastline is along the Houston-Galveston area, which hosts a slew of refineries, oil tanks and other critical infrastructure.
For years, the city of Miami Beach had approached the concept of sea-level rise much like that of other coastal communities: with a lot of “talk talk talk” but not much action, says Bruce Mowry, city engineer.
Hampton Roads in Virginia—seven communities and 11 federal facilities—is facing one of the worst combinations of erosion, subsidence and sea-level rise in the nation.
