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<br />Mitigation Strategy Report <br />FEMA-1134-DR-NC <br /> <br />State of North Carolina <br />Division of Emergency Management <br /> <br />Aside from storm <br />overwash and a rise <br />in sea level, many <br />other factors keep <br />these ribbons of sand <br />in a constant state of <br />transformation. <br />Changing sand <br />supply, wind direction, <br />and wave action all <br />play dynamic roles. <br />In an attempt to stop <br />the natural process of <br />barrier island migration <br />and protect property <br />along the shore, people <br />have significantly <br />altered this process, <br />with predictably <br />detrimental effects. <br /> <br />Figure 5: New River Inlet, North Topsail Island, circa 1996 (pre-Bertha) <br /> <br /> <br />A great deal of barrier <br />island development <br />has occurred in the last <br />three decades. This <br />corresponds with an <br />unusually quiet <br />time in terms of major storm and hurricane occurrences. In the last few years, the increase in major <br />storms and hurricanes, viewed by many as an aberration in the weather pattern, is in fact a return to <br />normalcy. As a result, many people have overestimated the safety of barrier islands, investing in <br />property that may not be suitable for development. Measures used to stop the advance of the sea and <br />the retreat of these islands have proved unsuccessful. Not only are such attempts prohibitively expensive, <br />they are detrimental to much of what individuals and public officials are trying to protect, which are the <br />barrier islands themselves. <br /> <br />While North Carolina's barrier islands have experienced a rapid increase in development, both <br />experience and science have provided insights into the changing nature of these islands. Topsail <br />Island, for instance, shows signs of severe historical overwash as evidenced by changing vegetative, <br />dune, and washover fan patterns. Through the use of historical and geologic data, it is estimated that <br />the New Topsail Inlet at the southern end of Topsail Island, was located almost five miles north of its <br />current site only 260 years ago. As the series of aerial photographs included in this report show, the <br />changes in the New River inlet and the north end of Topsail Island are remarkable. The changes in that <br />same area over the span of a mere 16 years, from 1980 to 1996, were devastating to developers and <br />property owners whose land now lies in the middle of the inlet (see Figures 4 and 5, above). <br /> <br />The Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA) was passed by Congress in order to discourage future <br />development in particularly vulnerable segments of coastal barrier islands, thereby preserving the <br />natural value of the barrier islands, as well as reducing future disaster related public expenditures. <br />CBRA identified primarily undeveloped areas on barrier islands which were to be designated as part of <br />the Coastal Barrier Resource System (CBRS) Units (commonly referred to as "Cobra Zones"). Future <br />development in these areas is discouraged by prohibiting, with few exceptions, the expenditure of <br />Federal funds in these locations. <br /> <br />Page 12 <br />