IOP Breach Inlet suffers severe beach erosion

ISLE OF PALMS, S.C. (WCBD) – The Isle of Palms Breach Inlet appears to have suffered from severed beach erosion sometime in the past 24 hours.

“Yesterday,” Don Kober, who walks the Isle of Palms Breach Inlet frequently, said, “I came out at low tide and the breach was perfect.”

That’s why Kober was shocked by what he saw when he returned to inlet on Monday.

“First thing I saw was the police 4×4 out there,” he said, “and I figured something was up. Then, when I got down closer, I saw that there was a huge drop off.”

Severe erosion left the inlet’s shoreline looking noticeably different, something Kober had never experienced in his years of walking there.

“I mean it changes,” Kober said, “it literally changes from day-to-day, especially from tide-to-tide; low tide to high tide. That’s why it’s a cool place, but that was pretty drastic.”

Isle of Palms police chief Kevin Cornett says it’s not uncommon to see erosion in that area due to the high winds and strong currents, but he says this instance is pretty severe.

“Today is a fairly dramatic change,” Cornett said.

And Storm Team 2’s chief meteorologist Rob Fowler agrees.

“I’ve never seen like a drop off like that,” Fowler said, “like you’re basically dropping off a cliff. You know, bits and pieces, chunks here or there, but like someone took a knife and just cut part of the beach off and just moved it out. It’s a constant battle between the land and the ocean, and typically, the ocean always wins.”

Cornett says officials will likely come to the Isle of Palms Breach Inlet early Tuesday morning to assess the severity of the erosion.

“We always want to go out and put eyes on,” he said, “and bring our team, not necessarily the police department team, but the team from the city and our public works; we all want to come look at it. We may call the Army Corps of Engineers to come out and look at it as well.”

Officials say after their assessment, they will be able to determine what action, if any, needs to be taken to repair the shoreline.