This West Kauai Beach Is Growing So Why Move Inland? 0 Kauai County is testing the idea of property swaps to get residents to move away from the coastline but on this coastal stretch the issue isn’t so clear.
KEKAHA, Kauai — The beach outside Kaleo Kaohelaulii’s oceanfront home is getting bigger.
It’s a welcome side effect of the construction of the nearby Kikiaola Small Boat Harbor, which interrupts the natural sand movement along the Kekaha coast. The harbor traps sand, leading the shoreline on one side to erode while the beach on the other side measurably grows.
Where the beach is widening, the harbor is delaying the effects of sea level rise, according to University of Hawaii climate change expert Chip Fletcher. It’s a paradox that’s wedged a degree of psychological distance between some coastal homeowners here and the inevitable consequences of climate change that threaten to submerge their properties sometime this century.
