ORMOND-BY-THE-SEA, Fla. – Part of A1A in Northern Volusia County took a beating in Tuesday night’s storm. The storm surge created a washout in parts of the road, forcing emergency crews to close it through the following morning. The Florida Department of Transportation said it’s looking for a permanent solution to the reoccurring issue.
“We experienced five washouts overnight last night due to the big storms,” said Cindi Lane with FDOT.
Lane said it’s become a much bigger problem since Hurricane Ian, which hit exactly one year ago. The latest washout was near San Jose Drive.
“We have a contractor who is really dedicated to that corridor, it’s about 13 miles through Volusia and Flagler, to make sure any problems that crop up are dealt with really quickly,” said Lane.
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Hurricane Ian caused several feet of dunes to wash away last September, just for Hurricane Nicole to follow weeks later. Nicole caused A1A to cave in and shut down for several days of repairs.
It’s happened several times since.
“Every time we’re having a big storm we’re seeing we’re having some washouts,” said Lane.
Right now, coquina rocks have been placed on the fragile dunes to protect A1A but when there is a strong storm surge, the water is able to wash in behind them still and tear at the dunes and road.
Looking to a permanent solution, Lane said construction will start this fall on two buried seawalls. One will be about 1.3 miles from Sunrise Avenue to Merlin Drive in Ormond-by-the-Sea, and another just north of Highbridge that extends into Flagler Beach, which will also be about 1.3 miles long.
“We do have a buried seawall in the northern portion of Flagler Beach that was installed in 2018 and it’s been very successful, so we’re looking at repeating that,” said Lane.
Those projects are estimated to be done by the end of 2024 or early 2025.
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