‘We’re going to have to dump sand every day’: City combats beach erosion

FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Fort Pierce scrambled to conduct an emergency sand drop Tuesday afternoon as the city battles severe beach erosion that is putting coastal properties, streets, and infrastructure at risk.

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Fort Pierce drops emergency sand to combat severe beach erosion threatening homes

At Jetty Park, beachgoers saw and heard more than just waves crashing. The sounds of large trucks and excavators filled the air as workers moved sand into place. It’s part of a temporary fix that will buy them time until a larger beach renourishment project can begin in March.

“We’re just going to have to dump sand every day,” said City Commissioner Michael Broderick, who took our Casandra Garcia on a tour of the site to see the work. He explained that persistent high tides have been dismantling temporary protections almost as quickly as crews can build them.

“It took two tide cycles to knock all this stuff down and basically took all that work that went into it,” Broderick said. “We’re fighting the clock, because we need six weeks of time.”

On Tuesday, crews worked to load piles of sand onto the beach. “They’re bringing in sand to create a ramp down to the beach which is going to be very challenging because even at low tide the water is quite high, that way they can get equipment onto the beach and start spreading material that way and that way,” Broderick said.

WATCH BELOW: Homes threatened by beach erosion in Fort Pierce

$500K emergency fix for Fort Pierce beach erosion

The emergency erosion control measures come with a price tag of approximately $500,000, and are meant to hold the line until a $15 million beach nourishment project, covering a mile stretch of coastline on Hutchinson Island, begins in March.

Just south of the park, homeowners like Steve Tarr are watching the erosion take more of their property. Tarr’s home now sits only eight feet from the shoreline.

“Last Saturday night we lost about eight feet of dune as well as half of my dune walkover, which is now floating somewhere—probably near the Bahamas by now,” Tarr said. If the dune breaches, he warned, “you’ll have closed roads, you’ll have salt water in the infrastructure.”

Broderick said crews are also doing work along the shoreline of his property to avoid a breach.

“So the plan is, ultimately, keep our material loaded here with the excavator, hit this spot, cut in, right next to this house over here, up to the embankment, so we can dump sand there and have these three sensitive areas covered,” Broderick explained.

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Fort Pierce battles beach erosion with sand project

Tarr noted that the problem has been compounding for some time.

“It would have been a little bit better if the county—the state, had gotten involved a couple months ago, but the effort they’re putting in now is really spectacular,” said Tarr.

Broderick pointed to a major setback explaining that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to secure a vendor for the planned nourishment project last year, delaying work by a year.

“It’s too late; the damage is already done. We’re trying to prevent further damage,” he said. “We are doubling our efforts to bring in more equipment and more material to solve the problem short term.”

Local leaders say they are already discussing long term solutions to the erosion at Jetty Park.

“One of the solutions that’s being talked about with the federal government is T-groins being installed out here which will break the surf and keep the deterioration of the dune from taking place,” said Broderick.

In the meantime, Jetty Park will remain closed until after renourishment is complete.

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