DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Central Florida’s beaches took a hard hit in the storms earlier this week.
Now that the conditions have calmed down, coastal teams are able to assess damage and make fixes.
In Volusia County, many beach ramps and walkovers are going to be closed through the weekend as the county fixes them.
Jessica Fentress, the county’s Coastal Director, told News 6 this week’s storm was the hardest hit the beaches have taken since the 2022 hurricanes.
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“We did lose sand so the beach elevation dropped. If you could imagine the beach elevation dropped, your stairs no longer touch the sand,” she said.
Fentress said the erosion is forcing them to close several walk overs, ADA ramps, and car ramps, with several feet of sand lost in this week’s storm.
“That also means your high tides are now coming higher. Your time you’ll be able to drive on the beach will be restricted because the higher tides are higher and you may not have that room to spread out,” she said.
These efforts are adding to the workload as the coastal team is still working to fix what hurricanes Nicole and Ian left behind in 2022.
“We are trying to race as quickly as possible up until turtle nesting season to get as much work done as we can,” said Fentress.
If you are planning on hitting the beach, Volusia County has a ‘Volusia Beaches’ app for your cell phone where in real time it shows you which ramps are open and which are closed.
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