Wailua, HI Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 1.3 miles northeast of Wailua, HI
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 1.3 miles northeast of Wailua, HI, at 0.18 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 1.8 feet over the last decade.
What "Wailua" 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 Wailua, HI, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 22.06, -159.32. USGS's Hawaii assessment last surveyed this stretch through 2007-2010, computing the rate with its WLR method. Other US regions were surveyed in different years, sometimes decades apart, so this page states its own rather than implying one national vintage.
What 0.18 ft/yr means over time
Run 1.3 miles northeast of Wailua, HI's 0.18 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 5 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
123 transects feed this segment's number; 77% of them individually measured retreat. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.17 ft/yr. Sorted from fastest erosion to fastest growth across all 1211 measured segments nationally, this one lands at 526. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2011-1009. Corpus Christi, TX sits at national rank 236 for erosion (0.74 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 3877 miles from here. 1.8 miles up the coast, Wailua, HI shows the same lack of a significant trend.
One address near Wailua: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal zooms past this stretch to the underlying map.