Ocean Isle Beach pumps sand to ease erosion

Ocean Isle Beach | After years of disappearing sand and even some disappearing oceanfront homes, the seriously eroded east end of this Brunswick County resort town is finally getting some relief. New sand is being pumped from the nearby Shallotte Inlet crossing of the Intracoastal Waterway, but there’s no guarantee as to how long it will hang around. “With the history of erosion at that end of the island, there’s very little chance it will last,” said Orrin Pilkey, director of Duke University’s Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines and critic of barrier island development.