SANIBEL, Fla. — We all love a good day on the beach, including on the island of Sanibel. But the beaches here took quite a beating, because of the recent storms.
Fox 4 Meteorologist Andrew Shipley spent the day on the island learning about the importance of the beach restoration project and what it means moving forward:
"Its been a long haul since Hurricane Ian," said Holly Milbrandt, Director of Natural Resources with the City of Sanibel.
We all remember the devastating videos and pictures of storm surge on Sanibel during Hurricane Ian. That surge eroded the beaches on the island.
"The impacts from Hurricane Ian were just so tremendous that we knew that mother nature was going to need an assist," said Milbrandt.
Just after the completion of the beach renourishment post-Ian were wrapped up, hurricanes Helene and Milton once again impacted the island.
"As the tidal surge reseeded off the island, it loses a lot of energy, so it is able to sort of meander and it kind of finds the path of least resistance to exit the island," said Milbrandt.
For a lot of the beaches, the path of least resistance was beach accesses, where there was little vegetation.
"We also saw along a good portion the length of the beach, where beach was scoured, sort of with these short parallel depressions up into the dunes,” said Milbrandt. “So, we been trying to level those out."
On Friday, the last buckets of sand were laid on the beach, but work isn't done. Milbrandt says the next step is securing the dunes with vegetation.
"Really having a vegetated beach dune and that dune system is really what keeps that sand in place and builds the dune overtime," said Milbrandt.
Milbrandt says the city is planning to start planting vegetation near Lighthouse Beach the week of Feb. 10.
She adds that without those important protective dunes, surge events could be even worse.
"Obviously a Hurricane Ian is something we hope we don't need to experience again,” said Milbrandt. “The impacts we had on Sanibel because of our beaches and our dunes, and the protection we have had place over the course of many, many years, I think the destruction could been even worse than what we saw without those natural features."
The funding for the beach restoration and a larger beach to protect the Sanibel Lighthouse cost the city more than $20 million, most of which was covered by grants from FEMA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
