Emergency Funds Spent To Replace Beach Sand

After Hurricane Isabel, surveyors determined that Emerald Isle had lost 128,187 cubic yards of sand, or about 7 percent of the six-mile stretch of beach. In October, Rush filed a claim with FEMA, this time noting that the six-mile section had withstood Isabel "relatively well." He estimated the replacement cost of sand to be $2.3 million, a figure later lowered to about $1.9 million. FEMA is paying for 75 percent of the cost, with the state's Division of Emergency Management picking up the balance.

The sand was pumped onto the beach in March in front of a row of condominiums and vacation homes.

Under FEMA's policies, Emerald Isle can file new claims the next time a hurricane chews away part of the six-mile stretch. "As long as we maintain the beach and we lose sand, I would suspect we would be eligible again," Rush said. "And we would file a claim."

Rush noted that FEMA also makes payments -- in the event of a natural disaster -- to people who live near flood-prone rivers or in earthquake zones. Paying those who live near an eroding shoreline is no different, he said. "Everyone in this country lives in a dangerous place."

Running Out of Sand

In some North Carolina beach towns, sand is now considered such a precious commodity that locals steal it. After Isabel, thieves took "massive amounts" of sand from stockpiles that Dare County officials had placed along the Outer Banks, according to Norma Mills, the Dare County attorney.

"People were stealing fairly sizable amounts of sand," Mills said. "In some places out here, sand is a pricey item."

Erosion rates along the Outer Banks vary from town to town, and sometimes within towns. Areas in Kitty Hawk, South Nags Head and Rodanthe have lost most of their beaches, leaving vacation homes defenseless against the pounding surf.

Dozens of homes were condemned after Isabel undercut their pilings, exposed their septic systems or swept them off of their concrete slabs. In Nags Head, FEMA is spending millions of dollars to create an emergency dune to protect rental properties in an area where condemned houses now lean into the surf. Several of the houses are actually in front of the dune. At least one of the streets has already lost its front row of houses to the Atlantic, and officials suspect it may only be a matter of time before it loses the next row.

"The ocean is going to reclaim those houses unless we can get a bigger beach," said Dave Clark, director of public works in Nags Head.

Clark said the emergency berm will buy homeowners time as the town and county explore other ways to shore up the beach. FEMA is picking up 75 percent of the cost, which soared from $1.1 million to $5.1 million after Nags Head found out it had lost more sand than it first estimated. A contractor is trucking the sand in from a pit on the mainland at a cost 60 percent higher than FEMA initially estimated.

FEMA has also approved berms for the towns of Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, but it is still negotiating how much it will pay. In Hatteras Village, the agency paid for a berm but declined to say how much. It paid $6.2 million to fill in an inlet cut by Isabel near the town of Frisco.

The Dare County beach towns are seeking a 50-year commitment from the Army Corps of Engineers to widen their beaches with sand pumped from offshore. The plan has been approved by the Corps, according to Dare County Planner Ray Sturza, but there is no money appropriated in the federal budget.

The beach towns hope to persuade members of Congress to put money back in the budget for new beach fills. In the meantime, the county is thinking of doing its own sand replenishment, a move that would make it eligible in the future for FEMA aid.

Meanwhile, a growing number of property owners are taking matters into their own hands. After Isabel, hundreds hired contractors to bulldoze sand into protective barriers in front of their oceanfront homes. Under state law, the bulldozers are supposed to scrape down only one foot into the sand. But there aren't enough regulators, and no one knows how much sand was actually moved.

In Duck, an exclusive resort on the northern Outer Banks, the beach scrapes appear to have exacerbated erosion in some spots, according to Town Manager Chris Layton. "I was on the beach last week and I could see a drop-off," he said. "All of this money people have spent is ending up in the ocean."