Powerful Atlantic storms threaten long-settled areas on a Massachusetts barrier island.

"PLUM ISLAND, Mass. -- Barbara Murray walked her dog past a ribbon of the police tape that wound its way around sections of this scenic barrier island, about an hour north of Boston, where she has lived for 50 years.

She ascended a sandy driveway and watched three construction workers, one driving a construction scoop, stack concrete blocks and cover them with sand and plastic cloth — an effort to protect a recently built home here in the town of Newbury from waves that have been ravenously consuming the shoreline this winter.

'It’s not going to work,' Ms. Murray said. 'You’re not going to stop the ocean. It’s too powerful.'"

Jess Bidgood reports for the New York Times March 18, 2013. [2]