Emergency Funds Spent To Replace Beach Sand

But in recent years, those projects have been criticized as wasteful, and the Bush administration's new budget has called for an end to new projects. In the meantime, beach towns are looking for new sources of funds.

Some, including Emerald Isle, are turning to FEMA.

Emerald Isle Spared

At one point Isabel was a powerful Category 5 hurricane, with winds greater than 155 mph churning across the Atlantic. By the time it made landfall on Sept. 18 near Drum Inlet, however, Isabel had weakened into a moderate Category 2 hurricane. Most of the ensuing damage resulted from storm surge that scooped up sand under oceanfront properties or flooded low-lying homes in poorer, inland communities.

Isabel's winds skirted Emerald Isle, with the eye making landfall about 70 miles to the north. The average wind speeds on the island were 30 to 55 mph, and there was little flooding. Property owners filed just three flood claims with FEMA, totaling $8,502.29, according to a FEMA database.

"Emerald Isle didn't even lose its electricity. That's how mild it was here," said Farmer, who lives in a house overlooking Bogue Sound.

In a series of e-mails written to local officials, Rush noted that most property damage was limited to shingles, siding and torn screens. "Flooding on town streets was typical of heavy rainfall events, but not overwhelming," he wrote on Sept. 19. The Post obtained copies of the e-mails.

One of the first areas Rush checked was a six-mile stretch of beach where the town had added sand to battle an eroding shoreline several months earlier. Rush wrote that the stretch -- nearly half of the town's 13 miles of beach -- appeared to have "fared very well." At least one property owner agreed, observing that the nourished beach actually appeared to have grown.

Nevertheless, Rush asked the town's engineers, Coastal Science & Engineering of Columbia, S.C., to survey the six-mile stretch. "There are some areas in the nourishment area where it appears that we MAY have lost some sand," he wrote in an e-mail on Sept. 22. "As you know, any lost sand should be eligible for FEMA reimbursement, and I want to make sure we maximize our FEMA reimbursements."

In a second e-mail sent the same day to the engineers, Rush wrote: "My guess is that the grand total of erosion losses will be relatively minor, however, I'd like to file a FEMA claim for any losses that we did experience, even if it only amounts to a few hundred thousand dollars or so."

In an interview, Rush said Emerald Isle qualified for FEMA funds because the town had spent $11.7 million of its own tax dollars in 2003 to replenish sand on the six-mile stretch of beach and had maintained it ever since. The only other requirement -- that the area be part of a federally declared disaster -- was met within days when the Bush administration named Carteret County among the numerous coastal communities eligible for federal aid.

"We view the beach as part of our infrastructure," Rush said. "Obviously, the reason folks come to Emerald Isle is that we have a nice beach out there." A healthy beach also provides a buffer against storms, he said.

According to state figures, Emerald Isle has been losing about two to three feet of shoreline a year. But Rush said erosion has accelerated in some areas: "Since the early to mid-1990s, we've had a lot of erosion."

That time period overlaps a dramatic run-up in property values. Since 1993, the assessed value of Emerald Isle's approximately 6,000 properties has more than doubled, to $1.4 billion. Much of the resort is now built up, and owners have begun replacing older cottages with larger, more luxurious investment homes. Emerald Isle also has one of the lowest tax rates among beach towns in North Carolina, with combined county and local taxes of just 48 cents for each $100 of assessed value. In the same decade that its property values have doubled, Emerald Isle's local tax rate has dropped by nearly 20 percent.

For nearly three decades, North Carolina experienced a relatively quiet period of hurricanes. But in the mid-1990s, that trend reversed and the coast has since been buffeted by half a dozen hurricanes, including back-to-back storms in 1996. The hurricanes and subsequent disaster relief payments have exposed the increasing vulnerability of the state's coast and have prompted increased efforts by beach towns to build up their shorelines.