DNREC and DelDOT work to restore dunes after breach floods Coastal Highway

SUSSEX COUNTY – Sunday night the dunes were breached just north of the Indian River Inlet, flooding coastal highway.

Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), along with DelDOT, has had crews working around the clock to restore the natural sand structures since the breach.

DNREC officials said after this most recent incident, they’ve turned to hardened shore remedies–like large stones and boulders–something the department normally tries to stay away from.

“DNREC doesn’t typically use [hardened shore remedies] due to the fact that we try and maintain the natural resource as it is. Our dunes are shaped by natural processes such as wave action and sediment transport…but due to the increased risk and the need to protect critical transport structures, it was deemed that that was the best option available for an emergency type of a situation,” said Kathleen Bergin, Program Manager for Field Operations within DNREC’S Shoreline and Waterway Management Section.

Bergin added that the work being done right now is more like a band-aid for the problems they’ve been facing.

She said they’re in the final stages of approval for restoration project that’s much larger in scale than what has previously been seen in the area.