One of the most farcical chapters took place on Amelia Island, the beautiful Atlantic barrier beach where I live, just across the St.

WSJ: Book Review: Finding Florida

Harvey Cedars, a narrow spit of sand in the northern part of the barrier Long Beach Island, has been battling with oceanfront homeowners for years over permission to construct protective sand dunes.

WSJ: Dunes vs. property rights in storm-battered NJ

Habitats in the biosphere reserve comprise barrier islands, beach and sand dunes, salt marshes, maritime forests, tidal creeks, fresh and brackish water impoundments and open water areas.

UNESCO: Biosphere Reserve Information

At Deal, a new 400m wall has been built either side of the pier designed to reduce the power of the waves, further north a rock barrier has been built and the beach has been strengthened with tonnes of shingle.

BBC: Flood of 1953: Protecting Kent from another surge

Hop the Tybee Island shuttle for a beach day on the laid-back barrier island, just 20 minutes from town.

BBC: Daily deal: A feast of the senses in Savannah

We thumbed our phones trying to getting a signal, exchanged texts and surfed Twitter for storm updates, both for our location in lower Westchester County in New York, and for the traditional summer stomping grounds of Beach Haven, New Jersey, a spot of barrier island off the pine barrens where my toes have met sand and salt since the 1960s.

FORBES: The Big Lesson of #Sandy: Connectivity Matters in an Emergency

Still, the implications of the Rutgers project unnerve residents of Surf City, on Long Beach Island, where the map shows water pouring over nearly all of the barrier island's six municipalities with a 6-foot increase in sea levels.

WSJ: Map Plots Rising Seas Street by Jersey Street