- A weekend storm washed away $600,000 worth of sand that had recently been trucked in to protect infrastructure in Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts.
- The project, which used 14,000 tons of sand, was completed three days before the storm that caused significant damage to the area.
- The Salisbury Beach Civic Alliance led the project with funds raised from 150 property owners after the state refused to help protect the waterfront property.
Weekend storms have thrown Massachusetts beach communities into chaos after washing away $600,000 worth of sand that was trucked in to protect homes, roads and other infrastructure.
The project, which took several weeks to bring 14,000 tons of sand to Salisbury, was completed just three days before Sunday’s storm hit southern New England with high winds, heavy rain and coastal flooding.
The Salisbury Beach Citizens Group, which promoted the project and helped raise funds, posted: Social media We talked again about completing a project last week and after the storm. They argued that the project still had value, noting that “the sacrificial dunes did their job” and protected some land from being “eaten” by storms.
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Tom Saab, the group’s chairman and a real estate broker and developer, said the money was donated by 150 property owners who say the state has refused to help protect their beaches or build sand dunes. He said that it was something.
Photo shows storm damage in Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts. Communities are panicking after weekend storms washed away $600,000 worth of sand that had been trucked in to protect homes, roads and other infrastructure. (Erin Clark/Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“The state will not fund any reconstruction of the dunes. That’s the bottom line,” Saab said. “Everyone is angry and upset. We can’t live without sand to rebuild the dunes, and we can’t live without the sand to rebuild our dunes, and we can’t survive paying out of pocket every time there’s a storm.”
Last weekend’s storm was the latest of several recent severe storms in the region and across Massachusetts that also caused flooding, erosion and infrastructure damage in January.
Sand replenishment has been the go-to method for governments to protect beaches for decades. For years, Congress has appropriated funds for such projects, arguing that they effectively protect life and property and help sustain the tourism industry.
But critics say it’s inherently wasteful to keep pumping sand onto beaches that will inevitably be washed away.
As ocean temperatures rise, climate change is predicted to bring more hurricanes and other severe weather to the Northeast, according to some scientists. Sea levels have been rising at an accelerating rate around the world since 1900, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk, the United Nations has announced. And coasts around the world are at risk from erosion due to changing conditions, according to European Union researchers.
Salisbury is also not the first town to see its efforts literally go down the drain.
After storms destroyed sand dunes earlier this year, a New Jersey town spent millions of dollars trucking the dunes and building other two along the most heavily eroded sections of its coast. It sought emergency permission to erect similar steel barriers in locations. This site for over 10 years. The state denied the request and instead fined North Wildwood for doing unauthorized beach restoration. The Department of Environmental Protection has often opposed bulkheads, saying the structures can encourage sand scouring, accelerating and worsening erosion.
Republican Sen. Bruce Tarr, who is working to secure $1.5 million in state funding to strengthen the Salisbury Dunes, said the effort would improve major roads, water and sewer infrastructure, and hundreds of homes, including more than 40 homes. states that their homes will be protected. % of Salisbury’s tax base.
“We are stewards of a natural resource that protects many interests,” Tarr said, adding that hard structures such as seawalls and rocks are prohibited on Massachusetts beaches, so sand dune replenishment is prohibited. He added that doing so is one of the few options available to the town.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation said DCR closed access points 9 and 10 at Salisbury Beach, which were damaged in recent storms, to ensure public safety.
“The Healey-Driscoll administration continues to communicate regularly with towns, legislative delegations, and community representatives to address the impacts of coastal erosion,” DCR spokeswoman Ilyse Wahlberg said in a statement. We will continue to cooperate with them.”
Saab said it made economic sense to continue rebuilding the dunes rather than letting nature take its course and consuming the beach.
“What, and destroy $2 billion worth of property?” he asked. “Salisbury is home to thousands of people who use this beach in the summer. … It’s better to continue rebuilding the dunes after the Northeast has been like this past year. It will be much cheaper than leaving it alone.” Destroyed by the sea. ”
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Still, some questioned the logic of dumping more sand on beaches.
Resident Peter Roddy responded to the Salisbury Beach Group’s Facebook post and said he didn’t understand why anyone was shocked.
“Throw away all the sand you want. Mother Nature decides how long to protect your home,” he wrote. “The situation is only going to get worse. I don’t know what the solution is, but sand is just a band-aid on a wound that needs stitches.”
The group responded that the state has a responsibility to protect the beach and that residents are contributing to the community by funding the project.
“Our feeling is that if we regulate something, we must maintain it responsibly,” the group said. “The residents who restored the dunes in front of their properties actually helped both the city and the state. Now it’s their turn to fulfill their responsibility.”
