Metompkin, VA Coastal Erosion Rate
What USGS measures 2.9 miles southeast of Metompkin, VA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 2.9 miles southeast of Metompkin, VA, at 5.6 feet of erosion a year on average, a long-term rate for this specific ~3.5-mile section, not one storm's damage. At that rate, the shoreline has lost roughly 56 feet over the last decade.
What "Metompkin" means on this page
USGS surveys the coast in transects spaced a few hundred feet apart; this page groups the nearest ones into a single ~3.5-mile reading for the stretch closest to Metompkin, VA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 37.75, -75.56. The survey behind it runs to 2007-2009, in USGS's New England / Mid-Atlantic assessment, using the LRR method. Shoreline surveys aren't repeated every year, so this is the most recent long-term measurement USGS has published for this coast, not a live reading.
What 5.6 ft/yr means over time
Run 2.9 miles southeast of Metompkin, VA's 5.6 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 140 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
How solid is this number
56 transects feed this segment's number; 100% of them individually measured retreat. The published margin on this reading runs ±1.24 ft/yr. This segment ranks 47 of 1211 measured US coastal segments, ordered from fastest erosion to fastest growth. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Gloucester, MA sits at national rank 522 for erosion (0.18 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 420 miles from here. 3.1 miles away, Gargatha, VA is the nearest other measured stretch: severe erosion at 4.41 ft/yr.
Metompkin, VA on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.