FOLLY BEACH – Nearly 90 percent of the sand dredged from the Folly River to supplement the barrier island’s shores last year is still there, putting the city in a favorable position ahead of peak hurricane season.
The $23 million federal renourishment project began in February 2024. Crews contracted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers worked in small sections, starting at each end of the island. Over the course of eight months, contractors placed roughly 1.8 million cubic yards of sand on the beach, or 180,000 dump trucks worth of sand.
A year after the first round of sand was pumped onto the shore via a long, snaking pipe that was a fixture on the beach throughout last summer, much of that sand is still there — a welcome deviation from previous work.
Nicole Elko, a coastal scientist contracted by Folly Beach, said the high retention rate wasn’t a fluke.
This year, crews installed sand fencing and planted dune vegetation, a nature-based strategy to strengthen the dune system and keep sand in place. The beach groins, structures that are built perpendicular to the shore and extend into the ocean to block the flow of sand, were also rehabilitated.
Dune growth on the beach was significant, according to a July 16 report completed by Elko Coastal Consulting.
“This isn’t an anomaly or just like, good fortune,” Elko said. “You can’t just throw sand out there and expect it to stick. You have to have a full, comprehensive and strategic approach in place, like we have here on Folly Beach.”
The coastal town is no stranger to beach renourishment projects.
The barrier island is the recipient of regular, federally funded work that involves placing fresh sand onto an eroded beach to protect it from further damage. Sometimes this sand comes from off-site sand mines, but it can also be sourced from dredging nearby waterways.
Before the 2024 work, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers renourished Folly Beach in 2014 and 2018. One-year studies conducted after these projects showed that roughly 54 percent of the sand placed remained. By 2015, and again in 2019, some areas of the beach had lost so much sand that the city already qualified for an additional renourishment cycle.
Beachgoers sit atop freshly-placed sand on Folly Beach on May 23, 2024.
Anna Sharpe/Staff
In 2025, that hasn’t been the case. The renourishment work was completed in October, towards the end of hurricane season. Aside from some impact from Tropical Storm Debby and heavy rains from Hurricane Helene, Folly Beach has largely avoided major storms that drive erosion, Army Corps project manager Wes Wilson said.
“Since we finished the project in September, early October, we have not had any major erosion events between that time and now. So that’s why — I’d say the number one factor — why the beach is in such great condition,” Wilson said.
Folly Beach will need to be renourished again, eventually.
The Edge of America experiences more frequent bouts of erosion compared to other beach communities. Barrier islands, by nature, have shifting coastlines. The tides carry sand from one island to the next.
For example, the Isle of Palms’ sand is taken by the waves and tides to Sullivan’s Island. That sediment should flow from Sullivan’s to Folly Beach, then down to Kiawah and Seabrook Islands.
But the Charleston Harbor jetties block that flow of sand to Folly Beach, causing the island to lose more material than is deposited. The jetties were constructed by the Army Corps in the 19th century.
Recognizing the adverse effects the structure has on the island, the Army Corps agreed to periodically add sand to Folly Beach at no cost to the city.
The wide beach that remains a year after the most recent work began is a promising sign heading into August, the start of peak hurricane season.
“If there’s a hurricane bearing down on Folly Beach, we want as much sand between us and the ocean as possible. We want the waves to be breaking out on the sandbar and on the wide beach, and not up on the infrastructure,” Elko said.