Parts of Vilano Beach washing away with nor’easter waves

3 years ago 229

Beach erosion concerns amid precocious tide successful St. Johns County, contempt multi-million dollar renourishment project

Higher-than-normal tide -- on with dense rainfall from a nor'easter has ocean-side residents acrophobic astir formation erosion, peculiarly successful St. Johns County. (WJXT)

ST. JOHN'S COUNTY, Fla. – The higher-than-normal tide, on with dense rainfall from a passing nor’easter has ocean-side residents acrophobic astir formation erosion, peculiarly successful St. Johns County.

As the king tide sinks backmost down, it’s bringing a chunk of the beaches with it.

This formation erosion is of peculiar interest to beachside homes. Water is dilatory eating distant astatine adjacent the retaining walls.

Every clip tidal flooding happens, portion of the formation disappears.

Jo Sinclair lives successful Vilano Beach and has seen the occupation first-hand.

“I’ve lived present 38 years, and I’m successful a vicinity that floods,” she said. “Even watching the formation change. They did that renourishment past twelvemonth and the shifting, it’s similar it didn’t adjacent bash anything.”

Over the past decade, the beaches successful St. Johns County person been washed distant by 2 hurricanes and respective different nor’easters.

Last year, Vilano Beach’s restoration task was completed, which placed implicit a cardinal cubic yards of soil implicit a 2½-mile stretch. More akin projects are successful the works close now, but storms similar the 1 that pummeled the country Friday and Saturday lone accelerate the urgency.

In January, Congress green-lit a half-million dollars to the Army Corps of Engineers to survey however St. Johns County’s beaches are eroding, successful what’s called a “risk absorption study.”

It’ll instrumentality 3 years and outgo up to $3 million.

For country homeowners similar Sinclair, it’s good worthy the investment.

“Nature is telling america that we request to alteration the mode we bash things,” she said, “and it’s going to assertion its right. It’s conscionable the mode it is.”

For the Sunshine State, maintaining the coasts is critical, arsenic astir 70% of the state’s colonisation lives wrong 10 minutes of it.