BETHANY BEACH, Del.- The temperatures may be cooling down, but we are in the heart of hurricane season.
With cooler weather, the likelihood of coastal storms increases, making beach towns more susceptible to any damage that could come from severe storms.
Bethany and South Bethany Beaches will receive help with that as part of the Coastal Storm Risk Management project. More than 730,000 cubic yards of sand will be dredged and placed onto the beaches. That is about 73,000 dump trucks each holding about a dozen cubic yards each. It is a project done about every three years. Steve Rochette, a spokesperson for the US Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District, announced the funding.
"It's a dune and beach project that is designed to protect the community, to reduce the risk of storm damages to property and infrastructure," Rochette said. "And every few years we come back and nourish the beach so we place sand to combat the expected erosion that happens there."
The United States Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District has been helping Bethany beach with replenishment since 2008. Bethany Beach's Vice Mayor Rosemary Hardiman says that with the way the beach is built, this work is definitely needed in order to keep businesses safe from coastal storms.
The tide was incredibly high in the early afternoon Monday, but most notably you can see broken and even dismantled parts of fencing around the dunes. Hardiman says that not having strong protection for businesses and the beach could hurt the town and its economy.
"If it wasn't for the beach and the beach renourishment, the businesses probably wouldn't exist or exist the way they are today," Hardiman said. The purpose of the fence is to protect the dune as well because of the grasses there. If people start walking it, it destroys the grasses and the dunes are more susceptible to being destroyed.
A project every beach town needs returning to Bethany.