Nor’easter batters Cape Fear towns along the Atlantic Ocean

CAPE FEAR, NC (WWAY) — A nor’easter has hit many coastal towns in the Cape Fear area, from up in Topsail Beach all the way down to Wrightsville Beach.

Sandbags were no match for the waves pounding and washing up onto oceanfront porches in North Topsail Beach.

Water built up underneath homes and crept its way onto roadways.

Topsail Beach resident Jeff Wells said history is repeating itself as the area takes another assault from the nor’easter.

“The erosion’s gotten so close, I mean these buildings are starting to get unstable, it’s scary I mean, these communities do the best they can to protect it,” Wells said. “It’s very scary, it’s very scary.”

Wells claims the residents have paid for sandbags to protect the 200-unit complex.

A similar pursuit just south of there earlier last week, as residents received an exemption to hire their own bulldozer to beef up a washed-out walkway.

But Well said, the area needs a terminal groin to stop the onslaught from the sea, but it’s caught up in red tape.

“It’s not a major tropical storm, it’s not a hurricane, like I said, I mean imagine if it was a category 2 or 3, forget a category 4, it would be devastating, I mean most of these complexes would be washed away.”

Further down the coast, hazardous conditions led to the closure of several beach access points at Wrightsville Beach.

The closed access points include #9, 10 and 22-28 due to escarpments, or large cliffs of sand caused by erosion.