Southern Florida Beaches Receive Hurricane Irma Beach Restoration

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) approved plans to spend $9.7 million for beach restoration in south Broward County, Fla., in areas that faced significant erosion from Hurricane Irma. USACE plans to truck in approximately 123,000 cu yards of sand in January 2019 in order to replenish sand lost during the storm on beaches south of Port Everglades. While the project will not make the beaches wider, it will load more sand on dry sand areas away from the water and form storm surge protection.

“It’ll provide critical storm protection,” said Jennifer Jurando, Broward’s director of environmental planning.

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the funding is part of a larger bundle authorized earlier this year for restoration work related to Hurricane Irma. Overall, a total of $36 million has been allocated for south county beach restoration and $29 million for beaches in Pompano Beach to Fort Lauderdale. Already, Hollywood, Fla., redevelopment agency has spent $4 million in 2017 to 2018 to add a mile-long stretch of sand to a heavily eroded beach at the southern end of the city.

“You can almost never have enough sand on your beaches, because nature most surely will cause it to erode,” said Hollywood Spokeswoman Raelin Storey. “These kinds of projects help to protect our coastal economy and our tourist industry.”

While central county beaches were renourished in 2016 with a price tag of $55.6 million and a total of more than 700,000 cu yards of sand, Hurricane Irma took a toll on the central and southern Florida beaches. Southern county beaches were renourished in 2005 and 2006. In total, USACE plans to dump 388,000 cu yards of sand for Irma-related restoration.