The marsh is a filter system, and it buffers the effect of the flood and storm tides.

It doesn't take much to flood those islands. With a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet, it's still going to cover a great deal. Depending on how well the homes are built and how old they are, they can get flooded out pretty fast.

Along with the destruction, there has been some good.

This has changed dramatically out here since the storm. And once it's gone it doesn't come back.

I saw the long line of the vacant shore, The sea-weed and the shells upon the sand, And the brown rocks left bare on every hand, As if the ebbing tide would flow no more.

The tide rises, the tide falls, The twilight darkens, the curlew calls; . . . . The little waves, with their soft, white hands, Efface the footprints in the sands, And the tide rises, the tide falls.