Posted on May 18, 2022
Crews were hard of work repairing damaged beaches up and down the Delaware coastline on Monday.
South Bethany Mayor Tim Saxton says despite those efforts, he’s worried there is not enough time to get the beach ready.
“It’s up to DNREC to determine how fast they can open up some of these ramps because right now its not safe for anyone to cross any of our beach crossings,” Mayor Saxton said.
“It could take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks so we’re just going to have to wait and see how it works out,” he continued.
DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin was in South Bethany taking a look at the damage.
Secretary Garvin says work will begin in South Bethany and move up the coast to other storm battered beach towns.
“We had actually boots on the ground during the storm last week. This is an opportunity for us to communicate to folks that the dune system that has been invested in here for many years is working,” Garvin said.
Garvin says the clean up will be two fold, starting with immediate repairs taking place now, with more robust beach and dune replenishment coming in the fall.
“Normally when you have a storm that has impacts to the beach, mother nature does a lot of the replenishment on her own. We don’t expect that we’re going to see mother nature being able to address this beach and the Atlantic coastal way,” he continued.
The Army Corps of Engineers does full beach replenishment every few years.
The last time in South Bethany was 2008. Corps officials say the next time around will be this fall.
THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS DOES FULL BEACH REPLENISHMENT EVERY FEW YEARS.
THE LAST TIME IN SOUTH BETHANY WAS 2008.
CORPS OFFICALS SAY THE NEXT TIME AROUND WILL BE THIS FALL.
