Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations

Hurricanes on sandy shorelines · By Dirk Frankenberg

Dune erosion on Oak Island (2)

houses damaged by a hurricane

Figure 9. These dunes were destroyed, but with no structural damage to houses. (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)

Figure 9 shows another set of oceanfront houses after Hurricane Floyd’s landfall. This dune, too, has been flattened, leaving some houses standing on the beach and some not standing at all. Note, however, that the beach under the house in the foreground is quite flat. This is the first subtle sign that sand is beginning to return to rebuild the beach after the storm.

Definitions

hurricane n.
A severe tropical cyclone originating in the equatorial regions of the Atlantic Ocean or Caribbean Sea or eastern regions of the Pacific Ocean, traveling north, northwest, or northeast from its point of origin, and usually involving heavy rains and has surface wind speeds greater than 74 miles (or 119 kilometers) per hour. [more]
dune n.
A hill or ridge of wind-blown sand.