Living Shorelines Protect Coasts during Hurricane Matthew

NOAA promotes living shorelines as a shoreline stabilization technique to reduce erosion while providing habitat and enhancing coastal resilience. After Hurricane Matthew hit in October, we saw that they really work.

Shorelines are often stabilized with “hardened” structures, such as bulkheads and seawalls. Ironically, these structures often increase the rate of coastal erosion and provide little habitat. Living shorelines use natural materials—like plants, sand, and limited use of rock—which helps them absorb storm surges and waves.

NOAA supported a living shorelines demonstration project with the St. Johns River Water Management District in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Several types of living shoreline techniques were used, allowing nearby landowners to see all the options for stabilizing shorelines without using traditional “hard” materials.

When Hurricane Matthew came through, winds in the area were clocked at more than 90 miles per hour—the roof of a nearby building even blew off! Water levels also rose about four feet higher than normal. The demonstration area faces directly north, the direction from which the most destructive winds came during the storm. But, after the hurricane, all structures in the area were intact, with minimal erosion.

Another NOAA partner, the North Carolina Coastal Federation, surveyed shorelines in the wake of the storm. So far, they’ve found that living shorelines had no visible damage. At least half the hardened shorelines they surveyed were damaged by sediments scouring the front of the structures and by water flowing over top and weakening them. The cost to repair these structures is high.

Where this page came from

This page was imported from NOAA Fisheries. Published by NOAA Fisheries and, as a work of the United States government, in the public domain; pictures credited elsewhere are left out.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.