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As beach erosion threatened their expensive homes, residents in Salisbury, Massachusettes, pooled together their resources and spent $550,000 to build a massive sand dune, The Daily Beast reported.
Construction of the dune, which required 14,000 tons of sand, began in February and wrapped up on Friday (March 8). Unfortunately, by Monday, heavy rains had washed away most of the sand.
A series of severe storms rolled through the area over the weekend, causing flooding along the coasts of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
To make matters worse, the heaviest rain fell during high tide.
"The worst I've seen in over 50 years of living here at the beach," Salisbury resident Ron Guilmette told WCVB. "The right word is catastrophic. All of the hard work that people put in bringing in $550,000 worth of sand over the last month, most of it washed away."
Salisbury Beach Citizens for Change shared photos of the damage on Facebook. The group said they are planning to meet with local officials about dealing with beach erosion.