Sunday's storm battered the North Carolina coast. When people in Holden Beach emerged after the storm, they found hundreds of tires washing up from the ocean.
About 1,000 tires dotted the beach in the southeastern corner of North Carolina, town officials said.
"The tires are scheduled for removal immediately by the state of North Carolina," Holden Beach Mayor Alan Holden said in a letter to residents. He said the tires came "from an offshore fish reef constructed by the state of North Carolina years ago."
An artificial reef built decades ago from old tires off the beach stretches down the entire strand, town officials said on social media. The storm likely knocked the tires loose and more could wash up in the coming days, according to the town.
Between 1975 and 1983, North Carolina state officials placed about 650,000 tires in the ocean to create artificial reefs, according to North Carolina Sea Grant, a coastal research center at N.C. State University.
The problem was, the tires outlasted the cables and chains that anchored them to the seafloor, the organization said.
Since the late 1980s, the state has cleaned up about 100,000 tires that washed back up onto North Carolina beaches, according to Sea Grant. That's come at a cost of more than $1 million, Sea Grant said.
"Hurricane Bonnie rolled up 28,000 in 1998 and as recently as September 2010, tires dotted Atlantic Beach beaches after Hurricane Earl," according to an article in Sea Grant's Coastwatch magazine.
Holden Beach town leaders cautioned people to be careful on the beach as the state works to get things cleaned up.
"We are working to get these hazards off the strand; however, it may take a week or more to remove what’s there already with more possibly showing up over the course of the next several days," town officials said. "Please remain vigilant as there will be extra equipment on the strand as the tires are collected and removed."
As of 5 p.m. all the tires have been picked up and taken to the dump. Town officials estimate 1,000 tires were retrieved off the beach and are not anticipating more washing up on the beach.
