The works of man were undone again by nature.
According to the administration here it will take millions of dollars devoted to this kind of work to make it possible for people to enjoy the shore again. Here two giant loaders pile up sand occupying one of the parking lots.
Then they fill another giant dump truck that carts sand out into the wasteland.
This is where dunes used to live. The clumps are the root systems of grasses that were growing on the dunes.
The truck dumps the parking lot out onto the beach, which was made much narrower by the storm. Much of it ended up moved back to the west.
I did not stop to estimate, but it looks like this filling and dumping will go on for a long, long time.
This is why I get such a charge out of the "Please don't step on the dunes" signs.
If folks had heeded the warning signs many years ago "Please stay off the Dunes" instead of whinning that it was such a long walk to the water this latest disaster would not have been nearly as disasterous as it was. ALSO remember that geologically Assateague at the Tom's Cove area is a natural "wash over" beach area. Just as the coastal islands south of Assateague have been eroding for many years and moving towards the west, so is Assateague. While it is a nice sentement to "rebuild the beaches", nature will have it's way in the end. Add in gradual sea level rise, and i would be looking at some main land property. Ida was just the start of the demise with the series of Nor'Easters we indured this winter finishing it off. Then there is the cost of this project. With shrinking budgets where is the money coming from????? Is the town of Chincoteague or Accomack County anteing up? I doubt it. Will the cost of parking at the beach go up? You bet. Will this deter the number of tourists and ruin the local economy which in turn will force local taxes to rise? Most likely.
ReplyDeleteAs the 1960's commercial quoted "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature". But what do I know.
Not sure whether your comment means that the administration got rid of the dunes because people whined. I was under the impression that the original (very high) dunes got leveled by storms also. I am guessing that walking or no walking, Mother Nature will level the dunes when she wishes.
ReplyDeleteI would assume that, since this is a National Seashore, the funds for reconstruction would come from the federal government. It seems like budgeting for these kinds of areas should include something for disasters that are fairly frequent. But what do I know.
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