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Volunteers from the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center search for sea turtle nests and to relocate turtles on Topsail Island, N.C., after Hurricane Erin battered the barrier island. (Topsail Turtle Project via AP)

As Hurricane Erin pelted North Carolina’s barrier islands with strong winds and waves this week, it destroyed many nests of threatened sea turtle, burying the eggs deep in sand or washing them out to sea.

On Topsail Island more than half the 43 loggerhead turtle nests were lost in the storm, according to Terry Meyer, conservation director for the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

“I didn’t anticipate the water table being so high and the eggs being just literally sitting in water when we got to them,” she said. “I don’t

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