NC 12 strugglin

oneworlded

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Jun 4, 2004
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Murrica
chrisdixonreports.com
Looking around social media I'm suprised how many vehicles were flooded parked under occupied homes. Surge must have happened quick or at night to catch so many off guard.
If you've never been to the Outer Banks, it's tough to apreeciate just how 'out there' the area around Rodanthe and S turns feels. You are on this tiny spit of sand in between two seas.

When you get a strong nor'easter and a lunar tide, the water can come up really fast. Normally there's not a lot of tide on the OBX, so when you get a decent low and a foot or two of extra tide it goes a long way - thus the flooded cars from folks who literally don't know better. It's amazing when it gets like that how many people just blithely drive fast through that saltwater - ruining their cars in the process because even if they make it across the water, the salt will have its way with electronics and metal.

That whole area around Rodanthe never had dunes historically. Most of the dunes on the southern obx were created by the CCC back during the New Deal to stabilize the obx. It was always overwashed for eons. Sand pushed across the narrow parts of the islands on big storm swells and replenished the backside of the islands, so they'd roll over themselves like a tank through the years. The OBX used to be 20 miles farther out on the US outer continental shelf less than 8000 years ago when sea levels were lower. The thing that's kept 'em viabile islands all that time is the ability to move. You can't really stabilize 'em because they lose sand from the back if you try to stabilize the front. It's a real pickle for the folks who live there or have houses there. There's only so much good sand to pump from offshore and the ocean is so strong, it washes away in no time. Then there's dwindling sand behind the islands in the sound because there's no overwash. Pullen and his family are super cool and nice. They put up with a lot of mother nature's mauling to live out there. Living on the water in Charleston is nerve wracking enough for me. I'll happily visit the obx, but I wouldn't wanna live there.
 
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Will there be snacks

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Mar 18, 2011
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Hotel Coral Essex
If you've never been to the Outer Banks, it's tough to apreeciate just how 'out there' the area around Rodanthe and S turns feels. You are on this tiny spit of sand in between two seas.

When you get a strong nor'easter and a lunar tide, the water can come up really fast. Normally there's not a lot of tide on the OBX, so when you get a decent low and a foot or two of extra tide it goes a long way - thus the flooded cars from folks who literally don't know better. It's amazing when it gets like that how many people just blithely drive fast through that saltwater - ruining their cars in the process because even if they make it across the water, the salt will have its way with electronics and metal.

That whole area around Rodanthe never had dunes historically. Most of the dunes on the southern obx were created by the CCC back during the New Deal to stabilize the obx. It was always overwashed for eons. Sand pushed across the narrow parts of the islands on big storm swells and replenished the backside of the islands, so they'd roll over themselves like a tank through the years. The OBX used to be 20 miles farther out on the US outer continental shelf less than 8000 years ago when sea levels were lower. The thing that's kept 'em viabile islands all that time is the ability to move. You can't really stabilize 'em because they lose sand from the back if you try to stabilize the front. It's a real pickle for the folks who live there or have houses there. There's only so much good sand to pump from offshore and the ocean is so strong, it washes away in no time. Then there's dwindling sand behind the islands in the sound because there's no overwash. Pullen and his family are super cool and nice. They put up with a lot of mother nature's mauling to live out there. Living on the water in Charleston is nerve wracking enough for me. I'll happily visit the obx, but I wouldn't wanna live there.
Yeah, after I posted that I was thinking many of those homes could of been occupied with weekly renters who probably assumed the ocean would stay behind the dune. Visited many times, and I've definitely fatasized about living out there, but agree you'd have to put up with a lot from mother nature.