{"id":154340,"date":"2026-02-13T13:41:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:41:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154340\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T13:41:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T13:41:06","slug":"why-is-fort-pierce-beach-erosion-so-bad-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154340\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is Fort Pierce beach erosion so bad this year?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/sand-project-beach-erosion-fort-pierce-homes-shoreline-brian-mast-james-clasby-hutchinson-island-jetty-park-st-lucie-county-fort-pierce\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Beach erosion<\/a> in Fort Pierce has reached a critical stage as an emergency sand dump at Jetty Park enters its third day. While crews have completed approximately 30% of the total sand haul, officials warn that a permanent solution to the vanishing shoreline is still years away.<\/p>\n<p>The current crisis is a visual shock to many; where a wide beach stood just two years ago, water now laps at the doorsteps of island residents.<\/p>\n<p>Coastal experts point to weather as the primary stressor driving this accelerated erosion. A series of unusually harsh winters, combined with strong winds and persistent wave action, has stripped the beach of its natural defenses.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve really had a really rough series of winters. The last three or four winters in a row,&#8221; said Andy Studt, Palm Beach County Coastal Manager. &#8220;We had multiple cold fronts come through and extended wave impacts from strong winds.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>See also:<a href=\"https:\/\/cbs12.com\/news\/local\/four-killed-victims-identified-suspect-found-dead-four-people-shot-to-death-amberlea-neighborhood-sarasota-county-sheriffs-office-florida-news\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> 6 killed in Florida cross-state murder; suspect also found dead<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"This is a flood map illustrating the high tide flood zones near South Beach, Fort Pierce (NOAA){p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/34f88947-1f81-4055-a798-9c445c8341cb-Screenshot20260212at3.40.35PM.png\"\/>This is a flood map illustrating the high tide flood zones near South Beach, Fort Pierce (NOAA)<\/p>\n<p>Typically, annual dredging and renourishment programs carry the beaches through the season. However, Fort Pierce City Commissioner Michael Broderick explained that a critical gap in maintenance occurred last year because of a lack of contractors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The reason we find ourselves in the conditions we&#8217;re in right now is that this renourishment program has been taking place annually for a number of years. Last year was skipped,&#8221; Broderick said. &#8220;The reason it was skipped is that the Army Corps of Engineers put the project out to bid three times, and nobody bid on the project.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A more permanent fix is currently in the works: the installation of &#8220;T-groin&#8221; structures. These offshore structures would, in theory, slow wave activity and keep sand in place longer. However, these are not &#8220;plug-and-play&#8221; solutions.<\/p>\n<p>Studt noted that federal funding and environmental concerns require rigorous, localized studies. &#8220;A very localized study has to happen to make sure that any impacts to nearshore or hard bottom or down-drift neighbors are going to be mitigated,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>St. Lucie County officials estimate that if everything goes according to plan, T-groins could be installed in South Beach by 2030. In the meantime, the region remains dependent on costly sand dumps and dredging projects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Beach erosion in Fort Pierce has reached a critical stage as an emergency&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-154340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}