NEW SMYRNA BEACH, FL – A large red navigation buoy that escaped from the Atlantic Ocean for the second time was removed Thursday from a Florida beach where it had become something of a tourist attraction.
Crews with a flatbed truck removed the nearly 7-ton (6.35-metric-ton) buoy from New Smyrna Beach, where it came ashore last week, news outlets reported.
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The beacon is originally from South Carolina and broke free of its mooring during Hurricane Irma in 2017, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. The buoy landed on Hilton Head Island.
It was put back into commission in the mouth of the Port Royal Sound and stood its ground for a while until sometime after Hurricane Dorian in 2019, when the buoy was forced off its mooring again.
The buoy will be taken to a Coast Guard station for evaluation of whether it can be used again, officials said.
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This story has been corrected to show the buoy had not been missing for two years, as previously reported.