Beaches spared

Finger crossing seems to have worked - Hanna's effect on area beaches was minimal by all reports.

Surf City Town Manager Michael Moore said beaches there were in good shape.

"We've had no reports of escarpments anywhere and there's been no significant erosion; in fact, I have heard reports that we may have actually had some sand added in some places," he said. "We videotaped the beach last night and we're out there right now videotaping it again, but it's looking very good."

Steve Foster, Topsail Beach's town manager said its beach areas were unscathed.

"We look like nothing ever happened - it was amazing we didn't have any damage, there was no erosion, it was like a non-event," he said. "I think we may have had some sand added in some areas."

North Topsail Beach also fared well.

"No dunes were breached, there was very little rain or storm surge, so we didn't have any flooding, and there was very little, if any, beach erosion reported," said North Topsail Police Officer Casey Simpson. "I think it really helped that it was low tide when the worst of it came in on us."

Carteret County Shore Protection Manager Greg "Rudi" Rudolph said he had not yet inspected all of the 25 miles of the Bogue Banks, which stretches from from Emerald Isle to Fort Macon, but he received updates from all the areas. So far, there's been no major erosion.

"When this storm hit we were on the east side of it,  where most storm surge is generated, so it did pose a threat to us, but I'm glad to report there has been minor damage," he said. "Dune erosion has been very, very minor - very discreet. Less than one percent of the beach, and only in localized areas, where we lost just a little bit of sand - and the sand we did lose will come back. Due to the beach recovery process, I expect it will migrate back in the next couple weeks.

"We've put about 10 million cubic yards of sand on the beach since 2001 - we'd rather it take a little bit of sand rather than the dunes, or structures and public beach accesses, and I haven't heard any infrastructure damage."

Contact Topsail area reporter Suzanne Ulbrich at 910-219-8454. Visit www.jdnews.com to comment on this report.