Sand continues to wash out to sea at South Jetty Park Beach in Fort Pierce, even while renourishment is currently going on.
“That portion was there maybe about four days ago, so you can see it goes fast," said Eddy Lugo, pointing out an eroded portion of the shore. "It doesn’t stay very long."
The Army Corps of Engineers has been working on a renourishment project on a one-mile stretch of beach starting at the Fort Pierce Inlet.
“I think it’s very necessary because there’s a lot of erosion especially during the months when there’s a lot of rain, a lot of wind, during the hurricane season," Grace Worley said.
Project leaders realized the beach has lost more sand since the project was set last December, so they're going to keep the dredging ship and bulldozers out for a couple more weeks through the end of May and pull in 125,000 cubic yards of additional sand.
"To me it’s a waste of time," Lugo said. "As soon as the storms start, all that sand's going to be gone."
The Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t know yet how much additional money the extra dredging will cost taxpayers because the price hasn't been set with the contractors.
Renourishment occurs on the beach every two years.
"It seems as though we spend a lot of money," Ed Henry said. "I’d think there could be a better solution than every two years pumping sand onto the beach."
