Port O'Connor, TX Coastal Erosion Rate
What USGS measures 3.5 miles southeast of Port O'Connor, TX
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 3.5 miles southeast of Port O'Connor, TX, at 3.29 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 32.9 feet over the last decade.
What "Port O'Connor" 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 Port O'Connor, TX, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 28.42, -96.37. The survey behind it runs to 2001, in USGS's Gulf of Mexico 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 3.29 ft/yr means over time
Run 3.5 miles southeast of Port O'Connor, TX's 3.29 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 82 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
26 transects feed this segment's number; 100% of them individually measured retreat. The published margin on this reading runs ±1.75 ft/yr. This segment ranks 88 of 1211 measured US coastal segments, ordered from fastest erosion to fastest growth. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2004-1089. For scale: Port Sulphur, LA, 402 miles away, ranks 26 of 1211 nationally for erosion, 8.84 ft/yr, 2.7x this stretch's rate. 0.8 miles up the coast, Port O'Connor, TX shows 3.02 ft/yr of eroding.
One address near Port O'Connor: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal zooms past this stretch to the underlying map.