Irma decimates what's left of north Atlantic Beach and south Jacksonville Beach dunes

From the balcony of Tracy Synan’s house on Beach Avenue in Atlantic Beach, the beach looks normal after Hurricane Irma. Only a few boards from neighbor’s beach boardwalks are missing, and Synan’s boardwalk looks a little higher than the dunes surrounding it.

Walk onto the beach, however, and the view tells a completely different story. Dunes are cut in half, creating small walls of sand along the beach, and the ends of some boardwalks are piles of wood on the sand.

Synan’s boardwalk juts in a high arch before landing back on the beach. She said that a dune was underneath it before Irma.

For residents in north Atlantic Beach and south Jacksonville Beach, Irma turned the state of their beach from a source of frustration to fear. And they feel that time is of the essence to start building the beach back up.

Synan said that Hurricane Matthew found the weak spots in the dunes, and filled the beach between the back of the dunes and her home into a moat. With talks of shore and dune restoration, Synan and other neighbors wrote to city and local government asking if the restoration will reach them. They received very little response.

Irma’s storm surge rushed through the breaches Matthew created and battered the front half of the dunes. Synan is afraid that if nothing is done to renourish or fortify the dunes, the next storm could cause significant flooding for the streets on the same level as the beach.

“The devastation on the reduction of value of all those homes is going to impact the city of Atlantic Beach as well as Duval County’s tax base,” said Synan. “Because when all these Atlantic Beach homes are worth a lot less because they’re flooding all the time, that means no money for the schools, police, and the city itself.”

Atlantic Beach Mayor Mitch Reeves said that residents in the north Atlantic Beach area have invited him to look at the dunes, and, after looking at them himself, said that they have every right to be concerned.

He reached out to Jacksonville City Councilman Bill Gulliford and shoreline consultant Kevin Bodge, and will meet with them in October to talk about the dune erosion in more detail. He doubts that dredging sand to add to the dunes will be an option, but said that they will talk about other renourishment or fortifying options. He also invited Atlantic Beach Mayor Elect Ellen Glasser to attend the meeting.

“It’s important that we move now with our senators and representatives and out state senators and representatives to find some funding for this,” said Reeves.

Jacksonville Beach Mayor Charlie Latham said that the dunes from 22nd Avenue S. to 25th Avenue S. are the hardest hit in the city. He and other city officials are working with the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers to do an assessment of the dunes across Jacksonville Beach.

He estimates that the assessment itself will take day. However, getting to Jacksonville Beach my take some time as the Corps. of Engineers are conducting hurricane damage assessments all across Florida.

Once they get the results of the assessment, the city of Jacksonville Beach will move forward with funding and repairs.

“We’re looking at our options and we’re working as quickly as we can.,” said Latham.

Residents hope that work will start before the next hurricane arrives.