SANIBEL, Fla. — For over 20 years along Blind Pass Park has been identified as a critical erosion area. The impacts of Hurricane Matthew and the loss of sand, officials had to declare a local state of emergency. For the time being sand bags were placed along the shoreline to help protect roadways, and they did just that after last nights storm brought high winds and waves.
“And the storm that we had that just passed through, with the strong cold front, that we had last night, we had winds 30 miles an hour, and as you can see the shorelines is in pretty good shape”, said James Evans Director of Natural Resources.
The sandbags are a temporary stop gap measure that held up during last nights storm, but starting next week the permanent project designed to protect the roads will begin.
“A vinyl wall that’s filled with concrete, with a cap on top of that wall, along with rock, large rock, that will be placed in front of that will be topped with dune, dune sand and dune vegetation. So it’ll look like a natural beach like you’ll see anywhere else in lee county but it’ll protect the roadway and the shoreline here”, said Evans.
The main goal is to protect the roadways from erosion.
“Obviously the goal is to knock down the waves, so they don’t flood the road, and take away the sand that’s along the shoreline”, Evans.
Evans stressing that the sandbags are a temporary solution to a continuous problem, that officials are working to solve for the future.
“And what we’re going to be building starting as early as next week, is designed to protect the road as we move into the future”, said Evans.
