Posted on 02/22/2005 7:21:07 AM PST by Dubya
BUXTON - The Coast Guard has decided to stop spending money to protect its station at Cape Hatteras after winter storms wiped out a 12-foot sand dune and brought the surf within 150 feet of the installation.
No date has been set to relocate the facility, but plans have accelerated to move the 57 employees.
About a decade ago, the Coast Guard spent $8.3 million to build 23 new housing units at the station, which is administrative headquarters for life saving stations along the Outer Banks.
Erosion along the beach has flooded the station’s sewage treatment plant and some structures just north of the former site of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which the National Park Service moved away from the surging surf.
Some have said the station was doomed from the start.
"Everyone was really surprised when they built that facility there," said Jan DeBlieu, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Coastal Federation. "It just didn’t make any sense."
During a nor’easter last week, ocean overwash raced over the flattened beach and pooled near the housing and office area.
Ms. DeBlieu said it was odd that the Coast Guard built in an erosion-prone area, even as the park service was making plans to move the lighthouse. The government spent $9.8 million to move the lighthouse away from the beach in 1999.
Senior Chief Petty Officer John Moss, a Coast Guard spokesman, said the units were built because housing was scarce on the Outer Banks.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Moss said the houses were built away from the beach, and the primary threat was to the waste treatment plant, not the houses. He said plans to abandon the facility were being considered before the erosion got worse.
The Coast Guard acquired the property from the Navy in 1984. The family housing was built on eight acres of adjacent land owned by the Coast Guard.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Moss said the Coast Guard was planning to vacate the housing as part of an agencywide reorganization that will move several units to the Fort Macon Coast Guard Station at Atlantic Beach.
In an advisory issued in November, Coast Guard officials said the reorganization was a response to the terrorist attacks of 2001 and that putting the units in one location would allow them to share intelligence and increase communication.
Under the plan, some Cape Hatteras personnel will remain on Hatteras Island as part of a field office. Rescue boats and their crews will remain at the Oregon Inlet, Hatteras Inlet and Ocracoke stations.
... uuuhmmmm... as someone who has lived most of my life in the country, I have to say that my wastewater system is not something I want to be in a primary threat zone! LOL
Barrier islands move. They appear. They disappear. It's what they do.
Served with several small boat coxswains stationed @ Ocrakoke. They loved it, and would always argue with those from Coos Bay & Oregon about who had the toughest small boat surf. I never had the "pleasure", but I'd have to think that going 360 in a self-righting MSB would be a life changing experience.
While the 44 footer I crew on never rolled, I will never forget towing in a 140' fishing boat in 30 foot seas for 32 hours. We had to be clipped in the entire ride.
Always hated rounding Hatteras, regardless of the time of year.
A bit of fear is the sign of a smart boater. Pitch-poling or rolling suck no matter how prepared one is.
we humans see the beach as a beautiful location, water and land together in the harmony of nature. We think it should last forever.
Mothere nature see the beach as the combat zone between the water and the land. ever changing, ever moving. Man may slow it down, redirect it for a while, but in the end, the water will win, get use to that idea.
In reality, if we humans would understand these simple facts we wouldnt build close to the shore and cry when is changes, we would leave it to nature to mystify us with the ever changing beauty and marvel at the ever changing movement of sand and see
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.