Two years after a newly formed North Carolina island was lost to storm surge, officials say a new one appears to be rising in its place on the Outer Banks.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore says the nearly 100-foot long formation was discovered, about a quarter of a mile south of Cape Point. The Islands are actually just large sand bars that are revealed over time.
It’s in the same area where Shelly Island showed up on a NASA satellite in the fall of 2016.
National Park Service officials say the sandbar could either continue growing in size or get washed away with the next storm swell.
Shelly Island ceased to exist in March 2018.
The name given by locals was “Shelly Island” because of all the shells that washed up with each new high tide and each new day. There were thousands and thousands of shells and they were replenished every day.
Article originally appeared on WECT.com
