PLUM ISLAND — The stairs in back of Anne Armour's property used to lead to the beach. Now, they stop a few feet above the shore, and are being torn down to make way for sandbags that Armour says can't come soon enough.
"Immediately speaking, we need these sandbags badly," Armour said. "It's close to being in a pretty big state of emergency."
Armour's house at 6 North End Blvd. is one of several that continue to be battered by high tides at Plum Island Beach, which increased in recent days after high winds and the new moon coincided to heighten surf and the tides.
Up the road, 18 North End Blvd. has been ruled uninhabitable, said Assistant Building Inspector Doug Packer. The erosion had previously caused the house's deck to be condemned, but in recent days water has sucked sand away from the house's foundation, Armour said.
The owners of 18 North End Blvd. had to put sandbags of their own in front of their house to prevent further erosion, but the town is close to getting giant sandbags from the state in an effort to reinforce the dunes, Packer said. All the permits are in place, and the contractor is ready to go, he said. But they're waiting on a guarantee of funding before laying the sandbags down.
State Sen. Bruce Tarr said the state Department of Conservation and Recreation was still in the process of redirecting grant money from bathroom construction at the beach to pay for the sandbags.
He said DCR would hopefully approve the switch "shortly" and said he's stressed the importance of getting funds sooner rather than later.
"I conveyed to (the DCR head) that time is of the essence," Tarr said. "We could have worse erosion before we start fixing it."
One of DCR's requirements for moving the money is that residents clear material that could obstruct or come loose and damage the tubes, Tarr said. So Armour's stairs are coming down, which is fine with Armour if it means her property will be protected.
"It's a shame it had to come to an emergency, but at least it's happening," she said. "I'll happily take the stairs down if it means I'm one step closer to safety."
And unfortunately for homeowners, the state is unlikely to reimburse them for their own efforts at preservation, like the sand bags at 18 North End Blvd., Tarr said. The island's center and parking lot are public interests, he said, while people farther up the dune are on their own land.
"It's much harder, for a privately owned dune, to justify putting public money into that," Tarr said.
And sand costs can add up. Armour estimated that Jeanne's put about $6,000 worth of sand around its deck earlier in the year, only to see it wash away in a single weekend. But the persistent pounding of the ocean means property owners have to constantly be on guard against erosion.
"Each storm takes progressively more each time," Armour said.
