INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, Fla. — This week's weather forecast looks great for beachgoers.
But residents and visitors in Indian River County will need to do a little pre-planning before heading to the sand. Their favorite beach may not be open right now.
Wabasso Beach's parking lot was a little more crowded than normal on Monday.
That's because Golden Sands Beach Park, located to the north, and Tracking Station Park, located to the south, are closed this week.
Hurricanes Nicole and Ian did quite a bit of damage to the area beaches, so the county is undertaking an emergency beach and dune renourishment project with a price tag of $662,000.
"It obviously makes our beaches that are open more busy now," Chris Henderson with Indian River Ocean Rescue said.
He said his team will have to adjust as the temporary closures continue through the winter.
"With two beaches being closed, we've had to move some guys around," Henderson said. "Obviously some people are being inconvenienced with the beaches [that] they normally go to. They have to travel up the road a little bit."
A total of five county beaches will be closed at some point while work is occurring.
Time is of the essence to complete these beach renourishment projects. The hope is to have all of them done and all of the beaches reopened by March 1, which is the start of sea turtle nesting season.
"Sea turtles need sandy beaches because they crawl up on the beach, dig a hole, lay their eggs in the sand," Quintin Bergman, Indian River County environmental specialist. "So, without that sand, they won't have that habitat in order to lay their eggs."
Bergman said there has been an upward trend of turtles nesting in the last decade.
"We actually had a record-breaking season for our leatherback turtles as well as our loggerhead turtles," Bergman said.
Also, beach access at Humiston Park in Vero Beach will be restricted at least through January as work crews demolish the damaged boardwalk here.
To get the latest information on which beaches are open and closed, county officials said their website will be updated regularly.
