CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Isle of Palms City Council voted to deploy emergency sandbags to the tips of the island after Hurricane Erin’s waves impacted erosion hotspots.
Coastal surveyors say near Breach Inlet, a channel just offshore, is migrating toward the beach, displacing sand with bigger waves, and that’s even more apparent during a large storm.
Mayor Phillip Pounds says the beach itself is always fluid and being watched.
“They had surveyed via drone and actual walking of the beach yesterday. So you know, we’ve got seven miles of beach, and I would say about six and a half miles of it is pretty good. And kind of reacted like it should have to Erin,” Pounds says.
But he calls parts of Wild Dunes and the stretch of about a dozen homes near Breach Inlet hotspots that are in crisis mode.
“We had tides about a foot or more higher than predicted during that time frame, so definitely some erosion that happened on the south end with breach inlet and up in Wild Dunes, which is kind of our two main hot spots right now. So we voted to deploy some more sandbags to the areas that are, you know, kind of in crisis mode right now,” Pounds says.
The sandbags will cost a few hundred thousand dollars to place a few hundred at each location. Pounds says he knows this is just a temporary fix, but it’s what the city can afford in terms of emergency measures.
“Before this last couple of years, the city’s really never jumped in and done emergency work on the island. We’ve taken care of the big renourishment work, but not emergency work. You know, residents can bring in sandbags or their own sand if they want to. They don’t have to wait on the city to do that. And I’m not sure it’s a sustainable model for the city to keep doing that,” Pounds says.
The real impact comes from beach renourishment projects where dredging and dumping sand build the beach back up. Isle of Palms saw some sand added to Breach Inlet last year, and is working towards another major project in the next few years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“If all the stars aligned, and you had a contractor available, and you had the financing ready, you might could start next fall, but that’s still a year away, that you’re talking about sandbags and temporary measures,” Pounds says.
Off of the beach, Pounds says drainage projects for roads and the back end of the island are making strides. Palm Boulevard’s valve project was successfully completed, and a contract for work at Waterway Boulevard is approved, meaning work will start soon.
“We’ve got approval with the owners of Wild Dunes to put some berms, some walls, some raised golf cart path on the golf course, which would be great. So this will allow us to take the infrastructure that we were going to put on the waterway path onto the golf course, and kind of track it in the marsh and on the golf course. So that huge, huge win,” Pounds says.
The project on Waterway Boulevard will involve purchasing and installing tidal valves that allow leaders to close pipe access to the island during high tides and rain events to prevent inlet water from coming onto land that way.
In addition to installing flood mitigation measures at Waterway Boulevard, the walking path will be widened.
As for the future of the beach, Pounds says it’s an expensive asset to upkeep and an asset to many across the state and southeast. He hopes the future holds more collaborative efforts to address the beachfront.
“We have state lobbyists. We’ve hired federal lobbyists this year, you know, attempting to get on the county council’s agenda to have some conversation. IOP is a big economic engine, and we put a lot of money in the system. It’d be nice to have others at the table helping us to help maintain a state asset that’s kind of left to the city right now to maintain,” Pounds says.