Hurricane Erosion Shows U.S. Coastline Vulnerability
NEW ORLEANS -- New measurements of Hurricane Ivan's erosion of beaches, dunes and barrier islands along the Gulf of Mexico underscore how vulnerable the American shoreline is to such storms, a U.S. Geological Survey oceanographer says.
Ivan's center made landfall Sept. 16 at Gulf Shores, Ala., with 115-mph wind and a storm surge estimated at 10 to 13 feet high. Ivan washed away as much as 164 feet of beach in places, said Abby Sallenger, an oceanographer for the Geological Survey's Center for Coastal and Watershed Studies in St. Petersburg, Fla. He presented his findings Friday at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans.
The Geological Survey, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are measuring the damage hurricanes do to the coastline in terms of land and sand loss. Much of the surveying is done with an airplane equipped with "lidar," which is similar to radar but uses laser light in place of radar's radio waves to map surface contours.
The erosion caused by Ivan's waves and storm surge undermined five-story oceanfront condominium buildings, "the largest buildings to fail during a hurricane in United States history," Sallenger said.
He said the average shoreline erosion was 42 feet in the area where Ivan came ashore.
• SUDBURY, Mass. -- Almost a year after the Boston Archdiocese closed or consolidated 80 parishes, priests were sent out to celebrate Easter Mass in one-day-only services for three of the shuttered congregations. At St. Anselm, more than 400 people filled the pews, about twice the usual crowd. Parishioners have been conducting a round-the-clock vigil inside St. Anselm while they appeal Archbishop Sean O'Malley's decision to close the parish, part of the response caused by the archdiocese's financial troubles following lawsuit settlements for clergy sex abuse.
• MIAMI -- Ten members of an Army military police unit should be disciplined for staging a mud-wrestling match at Camp Bucca, a U.S. military prison in Iraq, an investigation concluded. It is up to Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, the Army Reserves commander, to decide how to discipline the three female guards who wrestled, six sergeants who encouraged them, and a soldier who let one of the women change in his quarters. The reservists were from the Tallahassee-based 160th Military Police Battalion, authorities said.
• BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- A small plane carrying two Rhode Island families to a college lacrosse game crashed Saturday, killing all six people aboard, authorities said. The dead were identified as Jeffrey Jacober, 51, of Providence; his wife, Karen, 49; their son Eric, 15; Gregg Weingeroff, 49; his wife, Dawn; and their son Leland, 10, said Carl Freedman, a family friend and attorney for both men.
• IOWA CITY -- The body of a girl found in an abandoned mobile home was identified Saturday as that of Jetseta Marrie Gage, 10. Police said she was suffocated.
-- From News Services
