What Are Barrier Islands?

Barrier islands are low and narrow, sandy islands that form offshore from a coastline. Most will run parallel to the shore but does not necessarily have to. They are found along many of the North America's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. These islands are key resources because, as their name implies, they help to protect the mainland, estuaries, and coastal wetlands from the storms and waves that batter the coast. These barrier islands are often very beautiful and are therefore targeted by construction companies, looking to develop on prime real estate. In the United States alone, over one fourth of the land that can be categorized as barrier islands have been developed on.
However, despite their beauty, these barrier islands can be dangerous to live on and you should be careful before you purchase real estate on such islands. They are easily flooded by major storms and hurricanes. Many of the low lying barrier islands such as Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Miami Beach can be damaged or destroyed by flooding and severe beach erosion.
They are generally unsuitable for living because they are constantly shifting. Gentle waves will bring sand and build them up while heavy storms will flatten and erode them. Also, the currents that run along the beaches will take sand in one area and deposit it in another. Beaches on typical barrier islands will have one or more rows of dunes held in place by grass roots. These are the first lines of defense against storms and they are provided to us for free. However, the greedy real estate and development companies that develop every last square inch of these islands rarely take into account the storm protection that they destroyed. Thus, the mainland coastal cities, beaches, and estuaries that were once protected are now in danger of flooding and other environmental damage.
However, it is a common thing for governments to provide owners of beachfront property with fairly inexpensive property insurance that alleviates the risks of living in these areas. However, this increases the problem and hastens the destruction of the protective dune and vegetation systems put in place. Some have argued that the owners of these properties should carry the full financial risk for themselves and not have taxpayer dollars go to subsidize their high insurance costs.