This may not have anythng to do with Global Warming

[pscot]

On the other hand...
"The storm's powerful winds blowing over the Gulf of Mexico have created storm surges of 2 - 3 feet along the coast, from New Orleans to the Florida Panhandle. A storm surge of two feet was recorded in Waveland, Mississippi last night and this morning, which caused flooding of low-lying roads in Hancock County. New Orleans recorded 2.42" of rain yesterday from the storm, breaking their record for the rainiest December 1. Radar-estimated rainfall (Figure 2) shows up to five inches of rain has fallen over some regions of the Florida Panhandle, and additional rainfall amounts of 2 - 5 inches are expected along the track of the storm as it heads north-northeast today. Flash flooding was reported in Charleston, SC this morning, closing several roads.

Also receiving a pounding from the storm were the Gulf Coast beaches from Dauphin Island, Alabama, to the Florida Panhandle near Pensacola. A storm surge of two feet, topped by battering waves 10 - 12 feet high, probably caused millions of dollars of erosion damage last night and this morning. A 16-mile stretch of man-made beach encompassing the Alabama coastal communities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach suffered $5 million in erosion damage from the pounding delivered by Tropical Storm Ida last month. The two beach communities, along with Gulf State Park, spent about $24.2 million in 2005 to strengthen 16 miles of shoreline by dredging about 6 million cubic yards of sand from the sea floor and dumping it on shore. Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008 did about $9.5 million in erosion damage to the Gulf Shores beach. Because the beach is man-made, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Alabama Emergency Management Agency treated it as they do bridges and highways, paying 85 percent of the tab to repair storm damage."

There's more information at Jeff Masters'Wunderblog. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1391

[imdjh]

1. Beach "renourishment" needs to stop.

Sorry for the people who live too close to the water, but the beach building is an environmental mess. It needs to stop. The barrier islands have been essentially stable for as long as history notes them, but they need more flexibility than a couple of hundred feet from the waterline to the build line.
Many of the structures now existing, were built before the build lines were moved back. Some of these building cannot be rebuilt in their present location. Since the 1970's people have been saying that it would be cost effective in the long run to surrender these buildings. But that wasn't done. We, as in ALL Americans, are paying a fortune to protect and repair these waterfront buildings and the bill of goods we're being sold is that we do this because we all enjoy the beach. Well, we'll enjoy it after these buildings are torn down by the waves.

[jobycom]

3. These islands have not been stable throughout history.

Dauphin Island used to connect with Petit Bois, Ship Island has been split in two and has shifted westward... Pelican Island has shrunk and now connects to Dauphin whereas a couple hundred years ago it was a separate island instead of a sand bar. Unless we return to a hunter-gatherer era, we need a stable coastline.

And these coastal formations affect the entire nation. The barrier islands protect the mainland from storm surges, and that affects the ports through which we import and export goods, as well as the seafood supply, and the oil supply, since drilling companies rely on a stable coast for the base for offshore operations. The wetlands which have been allowed to erode used to protect the coast from storm surges like what we saw with Katrina. If there had been more effort to maintain those, New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast might not have been as devestated. Every two miles of wetlands reduces a storm surge half a foot. Thirty or forty miles of wetland could have saved a lot of lives and property during Katrina.

[RaleighNCDUer]

5. That's what coastlines do.

The barrier islands should be banned from permanent building. It is their nature to move, to roll, to build up and wear away. Didn't somebody once make a pertinent comment about building on sand?

The ONLY way to protect the barrier islands is to leave them alone. Doing 'beach replinishment' and 'coastline stabilization' only INCREASES the rate of erosion while at the same time prevents the natural deposits which themselves replenish the islands, only in slightly shifted locations.

[jobycom]

2. Global Warming doesn't necessarily affect individual incidents like that.

It may raise the likelihood of them occuring overall in some statistical way, but it's more of a longterm trend, and within that trend there will still be the usual weather patterns and variations.

Interesting event. I was just on Dauphin Island last Friday. They had piles of sand along the roadway, presumably to try to fix damage from Ida. Maybe the repairs will take care of the current damage, too.

[kestrel91316]

4. My proposal: permanent moratorium on ANY FURTHER development/construction

on barrier island anywhere in the US. And if a storm takes any building, it cannot be rebuilt AT ALL. Barrier islands are a national environmental asset and, frankly, vital to our national security/stability/prosperity. They serve a priceless environmental FUNCTION, and I don't mean as moneymakers in the real estate department.

I wouldn't be very popular as an elected official or policymaker, I suspect.

[pscot]

6. The people who build out there

have money and make a lot of noise. This will go on until the costs beome prohibitive, which they surely will as the sea rises.