A tale of two beaches unfolded last week along Virginia Beach’s coast. The resort area experienced a deluge of sand that blew across the Boardwalk.
But just half a mile south at Croatan Beach, intense waves and wind hammered away at the dunes, leaving the narrow beach in a more fragile state than before the storm.
Meanwhile, city crews have been working overtime to clean up the resort area since last Friday. They’re removing sand where it has inundated the Boardwalk, flower beds, the bike path and stairs that lead to the beach along the 40-block stretch. It’s a mess at the North End, too, where several feet of sand piled up at the public beach access ramps.
Mike Kelly, president of the Croatan Civic League, has an idea.
“Bring it down here,” he said.
Two weeks ago, Croatan received sand from a $4.8 million Rudee Inlet dredging project, which helped protect some of the beach, but much of it washed out to sea during the storm.
“It’s unfortunate,” Kelly said. “More sand needs to be put down there to protect the dunes.”
The south end of Croatan took the biggest hit with significant damage to the edge of the dunes and several privately owned beach access stairways. He and other Croatan residents wrote letters to the city manager and council members on Friday asking for sand replenishment as soon as possible.
But they’ll likely have to wait.
City crews started to assess the beach at Croatan last Friday. They plan to go back at the end of this week.
“Dune loss itself is alarming, but it’s not unexpected,” said Dan Adams, city coastal programs manager. “It’s too soon for us to say when we’re going to return to Croatan to place more sand.”
Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com
