Westhampton is the fastest-retreating reach on the Long Island ocean shore. The federal record puts erosion here at up to a meter of shoreline a year — and in 1992 this barrier didn't just erode, it breached, opening an inlet that swallowed houses. Here's the number, and why.
Rates are the USGS National Assessment of Shoreline Change (Open-File Report 2010-1118/1119, Hapke et al.), measured by linear regression across every historical shoreline through ~2009. The flood zone is from the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer. For the exact rate, uncertainty band, and base flood elevation at a specific parcel, see the address certificate.
Is Westhampton losing its beach?
Yes — about 85% of USGS transects in the Westhampton reach are eroding, and the worst lose roughly 1.0 m (3.4 ft) of shoreline a year, the fastest long-term retreat on the Long Island ocean shore.
What is the Westhampton shoreline-change rate?
The USGS long-term rate averages about −0.31 m/yr across the reach and reaches −1.04 m/yr (about −3.4 ft/yr) at the fastest transects.
Why does Westhampton erode so fast?
The Shinnecock Inlet jetties and a downdrift groin field interrupt the natural west-flowing littoral drift, starving the barrier of the sand that would otherwise replenish it.
What FEMA flood zone is Westhampton in?
The oceanfront is mapped Zone VE, the coastal high-hazard zone subject to breaking-wave action, in the FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer; one mapped Westhampton Dunes parcel carries a base flood elevation of 21 ft.
Westhampton's erosion is man-made in origin. The jetties built at Shinnecock Inlet and the long groin field down the Westhampton shore trapped sand on their updrift sides and starved everything to the west, thinning the barrier until it could no longer absorb a storm.
For the full story of this reach — with the live satellite waterline, the projected shoreline laid over today's houses, and live sea-state — see the Westhampton Dunes Reach Report.
This page is the Westhampton reach. The $99 Psammite certificate reads your exact address: the long-term erosion rate at your parcel, your storm-surge and FEMA exposure, the uncertainty band, and whether a licensed site review is warranted — built from the same federal record.