Homeowners battle to save depleted beachfront

By Treena Shapiro and Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writers

Over the past couple days, Kate Berry's property has lost eight feet of beach as high surf scoured the sand from in front of her Punalu'u home.

Kate Berry looks over the damage to the lawn of her Punalu'u home as high waves continue to pound the east-facing shores of O'ahu. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

Looking out on the beach from her lanai yesterday, she described the devastation: "It just looks like Armageddon on my yard."

When her family moved to Punalu'u in September 2002, Berry thought she had found her dream house. "It's not my dream anymore," she said. "Now I want a little suburban house in Kailua with a fenced yard."

Since they moved in, their setback has shrunk from 25 feet to about 15 feet. Her yard used to slope down to the sand, but now it ends in a ledge. "There's no sand at all, there's nothing," Berry described. "It's a drop-off. You jump down from my yard now to the beach."

Berry is discouraged by the lack of remedies.

She cannot build a seawall. Her neighbors are being fined $1,000 a day while they await a court ruling on an illegal seawall they constructed on their property.

She does not have a permit to lay down sandbags to prevent erosion.

About a month ago, she looked into the cost of trucking in sand — a technique called beach nourishment — which is the recommended way to combat shoreline erosion. At $10 to $15 a cubic yard, bringing in new sand could cost her thousands of dollars.

"It's a lot of money," she said.

Meanwhile, she ruefully points out that she owns the house, but not the land. "We have to pay taxes on property we don't have, and rent on land we can't use."

Deborah Ward, spokeswoman for the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said their Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands was getting some calls from worried homeowners. "We realize that it's a thing of great concern to them," she said.

Senior planner Sam Lemmo of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' Office of Conservation and Coastal lands said he doesn't have too much general advice for people worried about erosion because "each situation is different."

Lemmo said the state allows the use of sandbags and other temporary structures to protect the shore, but wants people to work with engineers and officials for better long-term solutions that include replenishing sand through "beach nourishment," and creating sand dunes.

For example, in Maui's Ka'anapali area, the state has allowed sandbags and large steel plates to help deal with a major erosion problem. "It's not a hopeless situation; it's a complex and difficult situation," Lemmo said.

"Our main concern is really to protect the natural resources of the beaches," Lemmo said. But "we don't want to see people's houses go in the ocean either."

Kilgo's sold thousands of sandbags this week to businesses and residents worried about high surf on Maui and O'ahu.

Operations manager Kari Kaauwai said the Sand Island store got ready for the winter weather by replenishing the supply of sand bags earlier this month. With unusually big waves pounding some of O'ahu's north and east shores, that planning paid off yesterday.

"We've been bombarded," Kaauwai said. She said they sell sandbags made of polyester and burlap and have them in various sizes. "We were prepared. We may not have thousands in all sizes, but we have quite a few."

Generally, she said the bags sell for about 80 cents each.

In addition to the bags, Kaauwai said people were buying rope, masking tape and tarpaulins yesterday. While some of the homeowners were clearly dealing with a sudden unexpected problem, other businesses were preparing for flooding that could recur.

"One hotel on Maui took 5,000 bags this week," Kaauwai said. She said the west Maui business had to deal with flooding problems just a few weeks ago. "This is the second hit."

At Ace Hardware Hawaii in Kailua, Poni Ventura said they quickly sold out of about a dozen sandbags and ordered 50 more.

"I've personally taken three calls for bags of sand," she said. "They were trying to shore up."

She'd heard from experienced contractors that they'd never seen the waves take so much sand so quickly from Kailua beaches.

Ventura said the store also was selling two by fours and plywood to Windward residents worried about rising waters.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070. Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2429.