Brevard County combats severe hurricane erosion on beaches with $50 million restoration project
Back-to-back hurricanes in 2022 inflicted a heavy toll on our Central Florida beaches, and for several months, a massive program in Brevard County has been working to counteract storm erosion.
It all started in southern Brevard as part of a massive $50 million project to bring in a million cubic yards of sand. The focus now is on rebuilding the mid-reach area after severe storm erosion.
“This year, we are doing about five miles of the mid-reach. Focusing on the dune line this year, work is over half done and expected to be completed the third week of April,” said Mike McGarry, Brevard County program manager for beaches, boating and waterways.
That’s because the work must stop for the primary sea turtle nesting season on May 1.
Some Brevard beachgoers like Lind Jump are concerned that the project might still have an impact.
“Long-term fine. Short term, maybe not so much, the sea turtles are always impacted,” Jump said.
The sand is brought in for replenishment.
“We harvest good-quality offshore sand with a dredge and pump it to a stockpile,” McGarry said. “They dump it at a staging site, and the off-road dump trucks move it a mile or so on either side of that staging site.”
At a new dune stretching along Pelican Beach in Satellite Beach, every three feet of width represents approximately one dump truck of sand.
The two-year project is part of emergency hurricane response, so it’s 100% federally funded.