Panama City, Fla., Surveys Beach Erosion Post-Michael

Coastal engineers from Panama City, Fla., announced plans to survey beach erosion following Hurricane Michael. A preliminary scan estimates between 1 million and 2 million cu yards of sand eroded from Panama City Beach shores with an estimated carrying capacity of between 60,000 and 130,000 dump trucks of sand, as reported by the Panama City News Herald.

The study, which will begin next week, will survey an 18.5-mile stretch of beach. The sand will be measured every 1,000 ft from the dunes to 50 ft of water. The collected data will be compared to the annual survey conducted in May. According to Lisa Armbruster, the beach consultant for the Bay County Tourist Development Council, there was approximately 4.5 ft of storm surge on Panama City Beach during Hurricane Michael.

“We were very lucky to have been just west of the eyewall,” Armbruster said. “The beach performed very well.”

Armbruster credited the beach’s response to the storm partially to a recent beach nourishment project last May, just a few months before the storm hit. The $14.5 million project distributed 840,000 cu yards of sand over 3.5 miles of beach and helped the beach face erosion brought by the high storm surge.

The results of the survey are expect by the end of November.