Treasure Coast beach erosion ranges from significant to minimal in wake of Hurricane Ian
It's been five days since Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, devastating the Fort Myers area.
While Treasure Coast was spared major damages, some beaches sustained significant damage and remained closed.
Beaches in Indian River and Martin counties experienced significant erosion, officials said. Damage in St. Lucie County was minimal, according to spokesperson Erick Gill.
The severity of erosion is still being assessed in each county as of Monday.
“Staff is assessing erosion damage in coordination with Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives,” said Indian River County spokesperson Kathy Copeland. “Our focus right now is to take measures necessary to ensure all beach parks can open safely.”
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Only three Indian River County beaches are open to the public: Round Island, Treasure Shores and Golden Sands. The rest of the beaches are closed due to safety concerns, she said.
All beaches in St. Lucie and Martin counties are open, officials said.
In St. Lucie County, officials already are starting to see some of the sand wash back or reappear further down the beach, Gill said in an email.
Officials were assessing damages on its federal beaches Monday morning with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
In Martin County, the 4-mile stretch of beach from the St. Lucie County line to Santa Lucea Beach saw “fairly significant” erosion, which can be seen as a 3-4 foot drop-off on the beach, said Public Works Director Jim Gorton.
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County staff’s assessment with the Army Corps of Engineers on Sunday revealed that 50% of the total area was eroded, he added.
“We’ve seen much worse erosion than this, but in the short duration of time that it took for this to occur is pretty significant,” Gorton said.
A combination of king tides, storm surge and six-to-eight-foot waves caused the erosion, he added.
Martin County officials are conducting a survey in the coming weeks to see if the eroded sand is offshore and expected to accumulate back onto the beach naturally, or if a dredging project is needed to replenish the beach.
Olivia McKelvey is TCPalm's watchdog reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach her at olivia.mckelvey@tcpalm.com, 772-521-4380 and on Twitter @olivia_mckelvey.