The Sands of Time (past)

       As the Nags Head and Dare County commissioners continue their dogged pursuit of many millions of dollars to heap sand upon dwindling beaches it might be instructive to look back at previous costly efforts to stop the ocean in its tracks.  When Uncle Jack lived in South Nags Head from 1992 until he moved to Baltimore last year he wandered the beach frequently, taking pictures of whatever was going on at the time.  Thousands of these pictures still reside on the hard drive of his current laptop which from time to time he attempts to purge to make room for new pictures of the wonders of Charm City. The pictures below are a few that he ran across recently which record various episodes of expensive futility as mere mortals struggled to prevent Mother Nature from removing man-made structures that were impinging on her beaches.

     This is part of the  50-foot wide, 10-15 foot high berm that was built the entire length of  Nags Head in 2004 after Hurricane Isabel tore things up rather badly in September 2003.  FEMA contributed about $3 million to the ill-conceived project with another roughly $2 million added by state and local treasuries.  Thousands of truckloads of sand were hauled to the beaches from borrow pits in Currituck county.  While it was officially described as "compatible" with the existing sand Uncle Jack found this to be a dubious claim inasmuch as much of the stuff looked and acted more like clay than sand.  In any case it soon washed away so it didn't really matter in the long run---or the short run either for that matter. The chief beneficiaries of this largess were a few oceanfront property owners who were able to avoid the cost of bulldozing for a year or two and the dozens of  dumptruck owners from all over northeastern North Carolina for whom the year 2004 brought an unprecedented bonanza.

Subsequent storms chopped away at the berm and removed most of it in short order.  Actually the berm project was done in two phases.  Work started at the southern end of  South Nags Head in the spring of 2004 and then stopped for several months for the tourist and turtle-nesting seasons.  By the time berm-building resumed in November much of what had been done in the spring had already vanished.

Heavy equipment owners and operators did well, too, as did the engineering company that planned and executed the debacle.

This section of the berm at Seagull Drive was to have protected the newly constructed post-Isabel street
at the left.  Subsequent storms took it all away in a relatively short time.

Seagull Drive after the temporary road and its protective berm washed away.  Back to square one.  All the cottages in this picture are condemned and awaiting removal or demolition at this date.

These two pictures chronicle the Town of Nags Head's expensive but ultimately futile effort to stop the ocean from claiming Surfside Drive in South Nags Head.  Successive walls of massive sandbags were erected only to be knocked down and overwashed by storms, leaving the beach in dreadful condition as shown here.  Eventually the town gave up and cleaned up the mess, revealing a wide and natural beach under all the detritus.

Will a $32 million beach renourishment project be enough to save these houses from the wrath of Mother Nature?  Stay tuned.