And you thought getting them to wear masks was a challenge. People walking on the beaches of North Carolina’s Outer Banks are being warned by officials to wear hard-soled shoes in the sand because of debris coming onto the beach from two houses that collapsed earlier this month and due to other material being exposed due to continuing erosion, the Charlotte Observer reports.
After two homes fell into the surf when their foundations were washed away by the tide earlier this month, the wood, metal, glass and plastics from the structures started to return to the beach, polluting the shoreline and causing potential dangerous material to wash up. Debris is washing up as far as 15 miles away.
A storm earlier this week also exposed PVC piping and other materials from decommissioned military facilities that were located along the shoreline, causing more hazards during the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.
“While much of the large debris has been removed by a variety of beach cleanup efforts, miles of small pieces of debris remains on and under the surface of the beach,” the National Park Service, which is responsible for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, said in a statement. “The Seashore is aware of the presence of wood with exposed nails, splintered wooden fragments and other debris that could be harmful to beachgoers without hard soled footwear.”