To protect their properties from an ever-encroaching Atlantic Ocean, about 150 homeowners in Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts, funded a $600,000 sand dune project whose construction was completed last Thursday, March 7. Three days later, though, a storm washed away half of their 15,000 tons of sand. That instantaneous erosion is a costly illustration that ad hoc efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change are poor substitutes for a more global approach.
Sunday’s storm was the fourth significant flooding event since December for the Maine-Massachusetts-New Hampshire tri-state region. Included in that were back-to-back storms on Jan. 7 and Jan. 10, during which Salisbury Beach homeowners, Saab said, lost “decks, patios, and stairways,” prompting homeowners to take action. They quickly built a dune to replicate a previous barrier. And then the ocean quickly washed it away.