Sit, listen, and wait.
That’s all beachfront homeowners in the Wild Dunes community of the Isle of Palms say they could do this past weekend as a nor’easter whipped up surf that pounded their homes.
“You’re helpless,” says Jimmy Bernstein as water washes over mountains of sandbags that are supposed to protect his home.
“It’s mental anguish,” he says.
So much sand has washed away from beneath Bernstein’s raised, beachfront home, the concrete inside his garage may crumble, again.
“I’m in danger of the slab falling into the ocean,” he says. “It would be the fourth time.”
Bernstein says this weekend’s high tide of more than eight feet, coupled with last week’s king tide, has created chaos on the island. There’s no escaping the sound of large waves crashing beneath his back deck and around the sides of his home.
“It just pounds against the house, constantly,” he says.
Bernstein’s neighbor, John Kirkland, meets with utility workers outside. He says his family has owned his beachfront property for more than 30 years. This is the worst erosion he’s seen in decades, so bad his power lines are exposed. He’s having to shut down power to his entire home.
“Hurricanes are almost better than this because hurricanes come and go,” Kirkland says.
“This has been days of relentless high tide, high tide, high tide.”
And the high tides are far from over. Two more king tides are expected in November and December.
