FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. – Grant funding is finally rolling into Flagler County for fixing the severely eroded dunes. The recent hurricanes, Ian and Nicole wiped away what was left of the dunes and took out chunks of A1A.
On Monday, the county commission accepted a grant for $5 million in emergency funding from the state.
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The grant will help restore a portion of the dunes here but the Flagler County engineer said she added the numbers up and it will just scratch the surface of fixing the damage the storms left behind.
“This is a temporary fix. We need much more than we have at this time,” said Faith Alkhatib.
Alkhatib said between the $5 million and leftover emergency funding from another storm, they’ll be able to make a “Band-Aid fix” to the county’s dunes.
“I think with all of the funding available to us at this time we might end up doing five to six miles,” she said.
The dunes were already severely eroded over the summer and by the time Hurricane Nicole got here last month, there was little to protect A1A.
“At this time, our residents don’t have any protection,” she said.
To make a more permanent fix along the county’s 18 mile coastline, Alkhatib says they will need federal and state help.
“At this time it’s almost four million cubic yards and the trucking operation that means at least $200 million,” she estimated.
She said they’re hoping to receive recovery funding soon to get more projects started before another storm comes along and wipes out what’s left.
“We’d have inlets. That means the ocean is taking over all of our infrastructure area. It will impact existing roadways, flooding the systems, it would be much worse than anticipated,” she said.