Bethany beach dune repair could cost up to 70 million
Nearly three months after parts of Delmarva were slammed by a January snowstorm, state officials eye beach towns still recovering from destroyed sand dunes meant to protect buildings and boardwalks during severe weather.
Tony Pratt, administrator for Shoreline And Waterway Management at DNREC, says the Bethany Beach landscape has made significant progress; however, a lot of work still needs to be done in terms of sand restoration.
“In perspective a big tandem load of the big, huge dump trunks you see, that’s carrying about 10 yards of sand,” Says Pratt. “We need about 500,000 [yards] or 50 thousand truckloads of sand to build this beach back.”
According to Pratt, the dune along the beach currently stretches about 30 feet wide compared to 100 feet in 2007. He says the last time it was replenished to its original dimension was after Hurricane Sandy.
“Between the course of storms between October and January this year, we’ve had a major depletion of that amount of sand that was originally placed here, so we’re dangerously vulnerable in this location to future storms,” He says.
Senator Tom Carper tells 47ABC, full restoration could cost up to 70 million dollars. He says one third would come from state funds, and the remaining two thirds requires federal money.
“The dunes saved this town and every town up and down the coast,” Says Senator Carper. “They did their job. They were depleted. Now we need to restore them.”
Pratt says funding for the restoration project from the Corps Of Engineers is supposed to happen every three years. He notes like any federal agency, they are limited by a budget and the project is now two years behind.
“The senator is in communication with the highest authority within the Corps of Engineers, the assistant secretary of the army in the civil works office, about what to do about this problem,” Says Pratt. “We are in as fine of a line of communication as we can.”
Senator Carper tells 47abc he does expect to meet with the Corps of Engineers sometime next week to talk about possible funding. We have reached out to the Corps on Friday for a statement. There has been no response as 6 p.m. Friday.
