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Beach erosion in VB caused by Sandy
Updated: Wednesday, 28 Nov 2012, 10:53 PM EST
Published : Tuesday, 27 Nov 2012, 5:50 PM EST
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Though not as extreme as the damage brought on by Sandy in New Jersey, tidal flooding from Hurricane Sandy caused significant beach erosion in the Chicks Beach area of Virginia Beach.
The situation is not urgent, but property owners as well as coastal engineers are concerned about the erosion, specifically close to the Chesapeake Bay.
"It broke through even down at Alexander's on the Bay," Baylake Pines Resident Noel Faison said. "The Bay actually broke through the street."
The bay has calmed down a lot since that weekend in October, but a close look at the dunes Tuesday revealed how fragile the coastline really is.
"If we don't get the big storms, it seems like the beach starts building itself back. As long as we have the dune-line," Faison said.
It is the beach that protects the dunes. Past replenishment programs for this area of the Virginia Beach coast have involved dredging sand from the Lynnhaven Inlet, an effective, but costly update.
"There's a lot of tax base right here, all these homes right along the bay front," coastal resident Mark Messick said. "I think it's in the best interest of the city to replenish all of this sand and protect this property."
Some of this property is private, although property lines rarely extend all the way to the water. The City of Virginia Beach works with the Army Corps of Engineers to replenish the beach along the resort area.
City council has gone ahead with a project to locate a sand source to supply the replenishment.
All this is expected to take about five years. Ocean Park Beach to the east could benefit from a navigational project conducted by the Army Corps of Engineers in the Lynnhaven Inlet as early as March.
The Army Corps of Engineers receives federal funds to conduct the beach replenishment that has been so helpful in fighting erosion in the resort area. Their project at Lynnhaven is for navigational purposes and a cooperative arrangement allows them to dump that sand at Ocean Park Beach, all once congress agrees to pay for it.
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