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Pleasure Island Beaches Undergo $10M Nourishment Project

People walk past erosion on the beach caused by Hurricane Ophelia on Kure Beach, N.C. in 2005.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
People walk past erosion on the beach caused by Hurricane Ophelia on Kure Beach, N.C., Thursday Sept. 15, 2005. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

Kure and Carolina Beaches are closed until spring for a roughly $10 million beach nourishment project. Sand dredged up from the ocean is being used to replenish the eroding beaches.

Andy Coburn is Associate Director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University.

"These are two of the most nourished beaches in the United States," he says, adding that these two beaches have been nourished regularly since the mid-1950s.

"We're pretty confident that the nourishment project will last three years. However, there's always a chance that when they finish this nourishment project, a storm could come by that take all that sand away in a day."

Nourishment efforts should wrap up on Pleasure Island beaches by April.
 

Rebecca Martinez produces podcasts at WUNC. She’s been at the station since 2013, when she produced Morning Edition and reported for newscasts and radio features. Rebecca also serves on WUNC’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accountability (IDEA) Committee.
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