Folly Beach owners and vacationers can breathe a sigh of relief knowing their beach won’t be eroding away any longer into the Atlantic. In 2011 Hurricane Irene took a serious bite out of the beach and the city has been fighting to get the money ever since.
The Army Corp of Engineers has provided $20 million to the city for the renourishment project. As part of a lawsuit settlement, the federal government is obligated to pay for renourisment every 8 years, or as needed, due to erosion caused by the Charleston jetties.
The renourishment will begin in the Fall after the turtle nesting season and will be completed by the Summer of 2014. Dredging will occur 3 miles off shore and be spread along the same footprint as 2005. It is quite an interested scene to watch the dredging happen and what a difference it makes. You can see in the picture below what a difference dredging did for the Wild Dunes beach. I look forward to the result.
Also in exciting news, the Folly Beach Park, after being closed since September 2011, will be reopening on July 3rd, just in time for the July 4th festivities. The commission members decided to go ahead and fund the $3 million renourishment project to get the park open. They couldn’t wait any longer. This is good news for Folly Beach and good news for everyone that enjoys that beautiful part of the island.