How many homes are we talking about here? Would it make more long term sense just to abandon them?
Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
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Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#22It'd be nice to hear what sober expectations were for the $500k dune. I'd guess the experts knew that one modest storm would remove it. > Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand. ...so if $500k of sand was washed away in 3 days, how long will $1.5m worth of sand last? > Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures l…
The market will take care of it and sweep those houses out to sea.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#23> Local news outlet Fox59 reported that the Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand. > Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures like these are not allowed on Massachusetts beaches If the only alternative is to drain state funds dumping tonnes of sand that quickly get swept away, then it's time to change the (by)…
I wonder what the logic is behind the hard structure ban. Is it only aesthetics, or is there some ecological reason?
In Japan, you’d very likely get tetrapods.
It’s either aesthetic reasons or maybe they think they’re unnatural and can have consequences for other shorelines.
I wonder if compacted sand that’s pretty hard would work any better?
In a way, they got their money’s worth. Without that sand it’s likely some of those structures would have been damaged.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Property owners dumped 15,000 tons of sand in a Massachusetts town to fend off dangerous tides, but it was swept away in 72 hours The assistance they could benefit from most is not financial but a short educational course on basic construction science. Sand is not a great building material. It even mentions that in the bible (Matthew 7:24-27).
If you read the article, it was pretty much the only thing the government allowed them to do.
I really despise the EPA. They have moved beyond their original charter of protecting the environment to protecting the property of some rich people at the expense of others--including poor people. I bet there's places in Massachussets that has similar properties but are the 'right kind' of rich people so they get variances. And by right kind, I mean people who have generational wealth and not just wealth that was earned by years of hard work like most shore town home owners.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#25> Local news outlet Fox59 reported that the Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand. > Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures like these are not allowed on Massachusetts beaches If the only alternative is to drain state funds dumping tonnes of sand that quickly get swept away, then it's time to change the (by)…
Or eminent domain the properties nearby and make people move to someplace where they won't be washed out to sea like that sand was. Unlike the perpetual sand bill, it's a one-time cost for ME.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#26It'd be nice to hear what sober expectations were for the $500k dune. I'd guess the experts knew that one modest storm would remove it. > Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand. ...so if $500k of sand was washed away in 3 days, how long will $1.5m worth of sand last? > Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures l…
The market will take care of it and sweep those houses out to sea.
Which will be even more of an environmental tragedy than just letting them have a hard seawall.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#27> Local news outlet Fox59 reported that the Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand. > Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures like these are not allowed on Massachusetts beaches If the only alternative is to drain state funds dumping tonnes of sand that quickly get swept away, then it's time to change the (by)…
The problem is that seawalls are very expensive and make the problem worse for your neighbors. If you build a sea wall, you break the natural process which replenishes sand on the adjacent beaches and they’ll shrink and disappear.
https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2023/09/26/lessons-from-califor...
The real solution is to accept that anyone who bought in the last half century should have factored in the scientific evidence of climate change and not expect taxpayers to subsidize their failure to plan appropriately.
At this point, the window for easily dealing with the problem is long closed and we should be prepared to write off high-risk areas: give the current residents support for moving somewhere safe and turn the land into a preserve where we can let the local ecosystem recover. A lot of beaches around the world have involved clearing things like mangroves which improve storm resilience, too, so restoration would help everyone further from the shore.
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#28How many dolos would 500k buy?
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#29It'd be nice to hear what sober expectations were for the $500k dune. I'd guess the experts knew that one modest storm would remove it. > Republican state senator Bruce Tarr was working to secure $1.5m in state funding to replenish the sand. ...so if $500k of sand was washed away in 3 days, how long will $1.5m worth of sand last? > Tarr, noting that a more permanent seawall was not an option because hard structures l…
> Interesting. Is Tarr a pro-regulation / pro-environmental-protection Republican?
It's not particularly surprising, I don't think?
Re: Swept away: $500k sand dune built to protect US homes disappears in days
#30Perfectly acceptable for homeowners to spend their own money to save their houses. But it’s the last sentence in the story that makes me boil over: “Now, the homeowners have asked the state to step in and provide assistance.”
I was more interested in the comment that more permanent sea wall structures are prohibited. Maybe the residents feel like if their hands are tied then the government doing the tying should help? I don’t really know the local politics or reasoning though.
Changing the erosion pattern in one place. What if the change causes higher levels of erosion in a natural reserve or less affluent area?