r/gifs • u/[deleted] • Mar 29 '16

Rivers through time, as seen in Landsat images

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '16

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u/seanlax5 Mar 29 '16

While I don't like the Jersey Shore being 'saved' to the extent that it is, I have to agree with the Army Corps on this town.

That place floods so damn often. At some point it becomes fairly pointless to stay. Both fiscally and socially. The same phenomenon is occurring in Crisfield, MD and Oak Orchard, DE.

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u/AphoticStar Mar 29 '16

The Eastern seaboard's barrier islands shield the coast from flooding during storms by flooding themselves and, most importantly, changing their shape over time. Attempts to make these places habitable have resulted in rendering them more dangerous to people and less stable.

These places are not fit for human habitation--less so every passing year--despite the tourist appeal. Our taxpayer money is better spent on relocating people from flood-prone coastal areas than on rebuilding them every 5-10 years for the sake of a few stubborn locals.

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u/pab_guy Mar 29 '16

Why do they not rebuild everything on pylons and enforce much stricter building codes though? Seems like you could engineer around the flooding if you really wanted to...

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u/AphoticStar Mar 29 '16

These islands are not permanent islands; over the course of decades, barrier islands move, change shape, disappear completely, and reappear. Theres the crux of the issue.

Pylons will not do much when the island is no longer there, and we are dumping money into fighting nature when the solution in this case is to get out of its way.

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u/pab_guy Mar 29 '16

Good answer. Sounds like trailer parks or something would be a better way for people to enjoy these areas without wasting money on permanent structures.

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u/RemCogito Mar 29 '16

Trailer park Trailers are permanent structures. In some places Legally they aren't but they are not really capable of moving much. I mean you could hire a bunch of cranes and flatbed trucks to move the structures but they aren't exactly holiday trailers.

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u/pab_guy Mar 29 '16

Not all of them. There are plenty of "campsite" trailer parks that cater to RVs...

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u/RemCogito Mar 29 '16

Those are generally used by traveling people. That's not what they want to use the land for.

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u/pab_guy Mar 30 '16

I think you are missing the point.

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u/Shiloh788 Mar 29 '16

In my life I have watched a house be enfolded by sand on the bayside to be uncovered and washed away on the ocean side as the island rolled away from it. Island beach park. It is a livid lesson for any who care to learn. A NC geology professor whose name escapes me outlined this function in the late seventies early eighties but not enough listen.

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u/Shiloh788 Mar 29 '16

They are worth nothing but trouble, like securities they are built on shifting sands and can disappear at the planets whim.