Posted on September 23, 2026
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company has announced that it will temporarily suspend beach nourishment operations in Buxton ahead of impacts from the coastal storm. However, the dredges will continue working until conditions worsen, which is expected to occur late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
Both dredges currently working on the project, the Liberty Island and Amelia Island, will then leave the site and seek safe harbor before conditions deteriorate.
Prior to the storm, Great Lakes will move heavy equipment from the beach to its staging area at Cape Court in Buxton. Sections of shore pipe will be broken down and staged as high as possible on the beach, with only the subline landing point remaining in place.
Following the storm, the Amelia Island will not return to the project site. The Liberty Island will resume beach nourishment operations and complete the remaining work, with approximately 250,000 cubic yards of sand still to be placed along the shoreline within the project areas. Once pumping operations resume, the remaining work is expected to take approximately seven days to complete.
As a result of the weather-related pause, completion of the Buxton beach nourishment project, previously anticipated by the end of September, is now expected during the first week of October.
Once the project is complete, approximately 2 million cubic yards of sand will have been placed along Buxton’s oceanfront beaches from the Haulover Day Use Area to just south of the Buxton Beach Access.
