After Hurricane Beryl destroyed the community’s coastlines, Jamaica Beach officials this week started talking about a project to restore beach dunes for the first time in the city’s history.
Drone survey photos reveal that after the Category 1 hurricane devastated the Gulf Coast during the summer, demolishing dunes and making the shoreline nearly impassable, parts of Texas’ beaches were unrecognizable.
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On July 8, the storm surge receded, and in some locations, large canals formed along the shoreline. Researchers from the University of Houston took pictures of Galveston Island’s shoreline, which revealed a degraded beachfront with broken dunes.
According to city planners, protecting dunes on the shores of Jamaica Beach, which is situated on Galveston Island’s east end, were totally devastated.
Kendal Francis, a Jamaica Beach municipal administrator, stated at a council meeting on Thursday that the beach’s landscape has clearly changed significantly since Beryl, particularly the loss of our dunes and the dune netting that was present.
Only fence poles remain along the beach’s terrain.
The city council of Jamaica Beach is currently considering ways to repair the damaged shoreline, including removing outdated signage, bringing in additional sand to repair the dunes, constructing a permanent dune restoration site on the beach, and maybe utilizing hay bales.
In order to improve beach safety and aesthetics, Mayor Sharon Bower stated that taking down the remaining posts before spring break should be one of the top goals. Francis proposed saving money by utilizing the existing sand fencing holes for the next bollards.
“It’s dangerous, all that barbed wire out there,” Bowers added. At this stage, I support removing the old poles and dune barrier.
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The area will be cordoned off to keep cars from parking there if municipal authorities decide to designate a permanent dune restoration site. According to council members, the council will also need to choose whether it wishes to undertake any other dune restoration initiatives that might overlap with that one.
“Depending on how wide the beach was that day, you would often see vehicles well beyond that point parked in the dunes or in the dune fencing just to try to maximize the space,” Francis added, referring to the current sign that reads “no vehicle beyond this point or something.”
The Texas General Land Office’s approval is required before the project can start and before planners may investigate finance options for the expensive project.
According to Francis, the individual I spoke with genuinely wants it to be as landward as is practical. They do not want you to simply cut your beach in two and claim that it is all about restoring the dunes.
According to Francis, a January visit to Jamaica Beach by state office representatives was postponed until late February or early March. According to agenda documents for the municipal council, the city allocated the remaining $75,000 for the possible project.
