What is with all the Seawalls??

[Coast is Clear]

I was really struck this weekend walking on the beach through Seagrove on the variety of seawalls being put up. There were wooden piling ones, there were steel interlocking ones, some tall some short.

These did not look like temporary walls....

If the county/state don't get in and establish some standard it will look ridiculous.......actually it already does.

I have read here about the dangers of seawalls to a beach, but I think they could have a place if high enough up on the beach to only be reached in the worst storms. (and if they could be mostly buried) However, at this point it just looks like uncoordinated desperation.

I also saw one stairway built over a new manmade dune that must have stuck out more than halfway between the old dune and the water. That thing will be history if there is a thunderstorm at high tide.

Is it this way all up and down the coast?

 

[Smiling JOe]

I was really struck this weekend walking on the beach through Seagrove on the variety of seawalls being put up. There were wooden piling ones, there were steel interlocking ones, some tall some short.

These did not look like temporary walls....

If the county/state don't get in and establish some standard it will look ridiculous.......actually it already does.

I have read here about the dangers of seawalls to a beach, but I think they could have a place if high enough up on the beach to only be reached in the worst storms. (and if they could be mostly buried) However, at this point it just looks like uncoordinated desperation.

I also saw one stairway built over a new manmade dune that must have stuck out more than halfway between the old dune and the water. That thing will be history if there is a thunderstorm at high tide.

Is it this way all up and down the coast?

Wait until the next storm rips them down, and scatters the seawall all over the beach. It is not going to be pretty.

 

[GVM]

I don't have a camera...to show you the finished product at a house in Seagrove. But the seawall at this particular house -- and it must have been 8 feet tall --- has been covered over with white sand, lots of sand...and I believe all of them that are built will be. Hope so anyway.

 

[Smiling JOe]

I don't have a camera...to show you the finished product at a house in Seagrove. But the seawall at this particular house -- and it must have been 8 feet tall --- has been covered over with white sand, lots of sand...and I believe all of them that are built will be. Hope so anyway.

The seawall which was washed out at Blue Mtn Beach was also covered with sand.

Any sand placed between the seawall and the Gulf, can easily be washed away in about one hour.

 

[DBOldford]

If you want to know what happens to seawalls on a beach during a significant storm, consider...

Buy two ice cream cones. On one, take scoop-like bites out of the upper one-half of the ice cream all the way around. On the second, nibble away at the bottom of the cone all the way around. Watch what happens with each.

Cone #2 is the seawall. Erosion from underneath (the seawall) can be more damaging than wave action against a fairly well fortified natural dune, even if the dune is eroded following the storm event. Seawalls work better on bays that don't get large wave action or have sand beaches as their foundation. A good storm will erode the ground under the seawall quite easily. Once undermined, these seawalls will act like large battering rams. What a shame it is to see these beaches changed in such a way, when there's no gain.

 

[Smiling JOe]

Personally, I think upon every piece of the seawalls there should be engraved, the owner's name and address so that the County knows who to charge for the massive year long clean up after the next big storm.