Plan in place to fix Broadkill Beach erosion

BROADKILL BEACH, Del. – Broadkill Beach is still experiencing some major erosion after severe storms wreaked havoc on the bayfront. The good news is DNREC does have a plan in place to fix it, but that might not happen for at least a few of months.

“We’re trying to take steps to make it possible to get to the beach in the parts of town where the dune crossings have been impacted by storms passable again,” explains Michael Powell, DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Program Administrator.

But that’s easier said than done. Back in September, Broadkill beach was hit hard by some severe storms that made the front of this dune basically a cliff. For locals it’s a big inconvenience, but the timing of it is a bit of a relief.

Jim Bailey, President of Broadkill Beach Perservation Association, says, “The fact that it’s going into off season here, there’s fewer and fewer residents here. Houses are being closed up for the winter that type of thing, so it’s not nearly as severe as if it were in the summertime.”

It’s erosion that DNREC was actually expecting, erosion that’s proving the new artificial dune is working.

“We’ve moved the impact from the houses to the front of the dune so it’s experiencing erosion in some parts of town,” Powell continues, “We went from a very eroded beach in Broadkill over the past several decades to having the Corp of Engineers place a new dune system in town and that dune system is kind of experiencing some growing pains.”

And unfortunately with the storm season brewing, DNREC says it could be awhile until all these crossing will get fixed.

Powell explains, “In the spring time we will completely reassess Broadkill and try as the weather warms up in the spring to completely restore as many as possible including the ADA compliant crossing for next summer.”

“We just have to grit our teeth, okay, and remember what it was prior to 2016 when this was done,” adds Bailey.

DNREC believes they’ll have to come back to Broadkill throughout the winter months to maintain the few access points they’ve restored.