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COLUMBIA – While South Carolina’s beaches have been spared from major storms, erosion persisted in several areas of the state’s coastline during the past year, the S. C. Department of Health and Environmental Control reported today.

“Nearly all South Carolina’s beaches have a degree of long-term chronic erosion but some beaches are more stable than others,” said Carolyn R. Boltin, deputy commissioner for DHEC’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. “Typically, beaches at the ends of barrier islands in unstabilized inlets experience more shoreline change. These areas include the Wild Dunes area on Isle of Palms and the southwestern end of Hunting Island.”

Boltin said the State of the Beaches Report analyzed beach monitoring data collected during 2007 through a partnership with Coastal Carolina University. According to the report, beaches with the most erosion with sand deficits and a minimal dry-sand beach width at high tide, from Beaufort County north through Horry County included:

• Hunting Island – the southwestern end of the island. Several cabins were threatened and subsequently dismantled during storm conditions in the fall of 2007 while other cabins remain threatened.
• Harbor Island – the northeastern end of the island. Chronic erosion in portions of this gated community resulted in ocean water under several houses at high tide.
• Sullivans Island – the northeastern end of the island, near Breach Inlet. Similar to Harbor Island, chronic erosion resulted in ocean water under several houses at high tide.
• Isle of Palms – the northeastern end of the island near Dewees Inlet in Wild Dunes. As a result of a shoal-attachment episode in this dynamic area, this beach has been critically eroded and structures have been threatened.
• Pawleys Island – the southern end of the island, near Pawleys Inlet. Many houses have minimal protection. The parking area, which provides most of the public beach access in Georgetown County, is in jeopardy.

The 2008 State of the Beaches Report is available on DHEC’s Web site at: http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/ocrm/pubs/reports.htm