Posted on March 16, 2022
Pensacola, Fla. – (OBA) – When Hurricane Sally made landfall in Orange Beach, Ala. in the early morning hours on September 16, 2020 it was one of the slowest moving storm in recent history. The slow moving category 2 storm caused more destruction than some category 3 storms. Hurricane Sally displaced a lot of sand from the east end of Perdido Key, which is about to be nourished. Here’s the latest information from the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Gulf Islands National Seashore will close the eastern end of Perdido Key beyond Johnson Beach Road for visitor use beginning March 11 through April 30, 2022, for dredging maintenance of the Lower Pensacola Federal Navigation channel by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
The area scheduled to be closed is only accessible by foot or boat. All project areas will be identified with brown posts with brown and white “Area Closed” stickers and will be regularly monitored by National Park Service (NPS) staff.
In 2020 three breaches caused by Hurricane Sally on Perdido Key, were naturally closed within eight months after the hurricane. The project area includes an approximately 35-acre sediment placement footprint, an access corridor, and a deep-water access point on the north shore.
The sediment placement will help reduce the likelihood of future breaches and increase the resiliency of the barrier island for future storm events. Sediment placement is also expected to offset shoreline erosion, restore sediment to the natural sediment transport system, and create additional wildlife habitat.
A hopper dredge and hydraulic pipeline will be used to excavate the channel to a maximum depth of 39 feet. Through an interagency partnership between USACE and the NPS, approximately 140,000 cubic yards of the dredged sediment will be placed on-land and nearshore at the eastern end of Perdido Key in Gulf Islands National Seashore boundaries. All sediment being removed is considered beach-compatible material and will be placed in a manner that mimics and enhances the natural topography of Perdido Key.
Park service staff will assist with archaeological monitoring and onshore wildlife monitoring before, during, and following all sediment placement activities.
The maintenance dredging of the Lower Pensacola Pass was funded by Hurricane Sally Recovery Funds awarded to USACE. Restoration (NRDAR) project that is being paid for with funds provided by BP as part of a 2016 settlement agreement with federal, state, and local governments. NRDAR projects compensate the public for injuries to natural resources and the loss of the services they provide, such as recreational use.
