SMITH ISLAND, MD. (WJZ) — Maryland has only one inhabited island with no bridge connecting it to the mainland — Smith Island.
People have been living on this tiny spit of land for almost 350 years, against all odds; fighting wind, tides, and erosion.
Now, the Army Corps of Engineers, the state and Somerset County are celebrating a multi-million dollar project aimed at “Saving Smith Island.”
Water is at the center of life on this island. Three tiny villages make up one small community living off the bounty of the water that surrounds them.
“It’s hard to beat…the people, the place, the uniqueness, it’s not for everybody, we know that,” said Eddie Somers, Smith Island United.
Few Marylanders ever do make the journey, over the Bay Bridge, all the way south to Crisfield, taking an hour’s ferry ride out into the Chesapeake — the only way to reach Smith Island.
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23 comments:
Somerset county can do this but can't fix the ditches everywhere else?
The earth's core is still cooling and shrinking in size. That is causing a rise in water levels world wide
So, where's the bridge to Tangier Island?
Its not sinking but eroding
I hope the island can be saved. It is a part of our American heritage.
9:40- Tangier is in Virginia, obviously, and is not a part of Smith Island.
8:52 Interesting. Is this cyclical; cooling and warming?
There's no reason to spend 10's of millions of dollars (or more) fighting the Mother Nature to try and sustain a way of life for 100 residents, that can easily be relocated to the mainland, and still continue with their watermen way of life. It is a total waste. The island is being reclaimed by nature. There is no value in spending all that money so people can live on the island for just a little while longer. The money would be much better spent on relocation. It is an exercise in futility trying to save the island from nature.
The earth's core is still cooling and shrinking in size. That is causing a rise in water levels world wide
May 4, 2019 at 8:52 AM:
Now there's something I've never heard or read before. That is some "theory" that you have there. Any scientific documentation to back up that claim?
Do u or just go off some lunitic SNOWFLAKE.
1:02 is absolutely correct. The island is indeed sinking and eroding at the same time. You cannot "fix" this problem no matter how much money you throw at it. These measures are simply putting a band aid on the problem. It's a waste of money and these people will have to move eventually. In 40-50 yrs, Smith Island will be uninhabitable. Just google Holland Island.
Agree
You wrote both comments so ask yourself. Typical snowflake
Got it from my Salisbury professor. They know everything so I don't need to question it.😂
Wrong in so many ways.
Anonymous said...
The earth's core is still cooling and shrinking in size. That is causing a rise in water levels world wide
May 4, 2019 at 8:52 AM
Do you mean Global Warming? I mean Climate Change??
Anonymous said...
There's no reason to spend 10's of millions of dollars (or more) fighting the Mother Nature to try and sustain a way of life for 100 residents, that can easily be relocated to the mainland, and still continue with their watermen way of life. It is a total waste. The island is being reclaimed by nature. There is no value in spending all that money so people can live on the island for just a little while longer. The money would be much better spent on relocation. It is an exercise in futility trying to save the island from nature.
May 4, 2019 at 1:02 PM
Sounds like a Liberal Douche Bag Socialist speaking. I bet if you lived there you wouldn't want to relocate.
It's sad when we give a terrorist nation 150 billion, open our borders and use US citizen tax money to give away to illegals but we don't take care of our own. @4:56 it's people like yourself and the rest of the socialist wanna be movement that will force a terrible confrontation someday in this country
No
Agree
Mother Nature at work...
there is a great book out called
The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake ....
the book details Island erosions that date back to pre 1500s that were inhabited
nice read
Wrong 10:25 and 7:06. It is both. The whole Eastern Shore is unconsolidated material. It is sinking or a better term settling about an inch every 10 years. It is natural
How much does beach replenishment cost every year caused by erosion?
So, if we have a flood and the water comes up to my house, it means my house is sinking? That's just stupid thinking. My house got flooded because the water rose, not because my house sank. It's what's happening to the islands in the Chesapeake Bay. Take a look at Fox Islands in the Pocomoke sound (if you can). They have become completely submerged in the last fifty years. They didn't sink, the water just continued to rise until the islands are no longer visible, even at low tide. Smith Island is not "special." It's happening to them. It's going to happen to Crisfield someday, not in my lifetime, but it is going to happen, and the community will just move farther inland, to higher ground, as it happens. The oceans are rising and it is an irrefutable fact. No barriers or riprap is going to stop the erosion of Smith Island. It is going under. Now if you want to relocate millions of yards of earth to build it up above the rising tides, you might be able to put off the inevitable for a hundred years, but why? Just so 100 or so people can maintain their "way of life?" They can do that from the mainland.
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