It’s that time of year again.

As the first large northwest of the winter season rolls in, those living along Oahu’s North Shore coastline are once again on edge.

For years, homeowners, particularly those between Rocky Point and Sunset Beach, have grappled with erosion in their own backyards, watching anxiously as powerful swells took out chunks of lawn, felled coconut palms and damaged landscaping, stairways and decks.

On Feb. 28, 2022, a home at 59-181-H Ke Nui Road collapsed onto the beach after a weekend of high surf.

Will it happen again?

The National Weather Service has issued a high-surf warning that was in effect from 6 a.m. Tuesday until 6 p.m. today. Forecasters expected surf to peak Tuesday night through this morning, bringing waves of 25 to 35 feet along north shores and 18 to 24 feet along west shores.

It’s the first of more large waves to come for the winter surf season, which usually begins in late October and lasts as late as March.

Sunset Beach resident Randy Rarick says he’s been watching the waves cause a tremendous amount of erosion over the past month.

“Just in the last month, the amount of erosion was amazing,” said Rarick, a surfer and retired co-founder of the Triple Crown competitions. “All the burrito bags are now completely exposed. The first big swell just hit today. It’s eroding all the sand away.”

Rarick said October is always the worst month because swell directions worsen the erosion factor. Homes along the shoreline from Rocky Point to Pipeline are vulnerable.

“You just hope it doesn’t get any worse,” he said.

The current El Nino conditions typically mean more tropical storms for the Central Pacific, and possibly bigger swells due to distant effects from the extended jet stream, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Oahu’s North Shore typically has a seasonal pattern of sand that washes away, then returns a few months later in the spring. But there are areas that have been suffering from chronic erosion, and the situation has only worsened over the years.

At Ehukai Beach Park, for instance, the lifeguard stand has been moved back at least twice over the years due to a newly formed dropoff.

Homeowners facing erosion would like the state to do more to manage certain parts of the North Shore, such as Ehukai and Rocky’s Point, which tend to be passed up for beach nourishment programs.

They question why only some beaches but not others get sand replenishment, and they want a study for the specific dynamics of Oahu’s North Shore to find workable solutions. They also want tools for homeowners to defend their homes proactively instead of “managed retreat” as the only option.

Kathleen Pahinui, North Shore Neighborhood Board chair, says the issue has come up numerous times for at least a decade.

“It’s a stressful time for anybody who has a house on the shoreline, especially that particular stretch of shoreline,” she said. “I think the initial swell isn’t necessarily the worst, because you have plenty of sand from the summer, but as the year moves forward it gets more stressful.”

Pahinui said the board has heard climate change presentations and talked about its impacts on infrastructure as well as safety. It is not on the next meeting’s agenda, but she is sure it will come up again.

“It’s gotten more front and center for us over the last five to six years,” she said, “but we’ve had discussions for longer than that.”

The use of burritos — long tubes of fabric filled with sand — to help stave off the erosion has also become a point of contention.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources allows their use, as well as of black tarps, with permits, but only on a temporary and emergency basis for homes that are “imminently threatened.”

But even after permits have expired, many homeowners continue to keep them in place, resulting in obstruction of the shoreline.

“The department has issued emergency permits to approximately 50 coastal properties between Ka‘ena and Kahuku over the past decade,” Michael Cain, state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands Administrator, said in a statement. “These permits allowed the landowners to place temporary structures, such as sandbag burritos, on state land while the landowners worked on long-term solutions. The permits have all expired.”

“The department is currently pursuing violation cases against those landowners who are refusing to remove their structures from state lands,” Cain said.