NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – North Myrtle Beach will get $10 million for beach renourishment to help repair damage from Hurricane Matthew.
A press release from the office of Congressman Tom Rice said the District 7 congressman secured $10 million in emergency funding for beachfront renourishment projects in North Myrtle Beach. Congressman Rice pushed for the project to be considered for funding at the federal level, the release says.
“Beaches are the lifeblood of the Grand Strand and they’ve been hit hard over the past few years,” said Congressman Rice. “While this money won’t replace all the erosion, it will certainly help and I will continue to explore ways to rebuild and repair beachfront all along the Grand Strand.”
The project is something the mayor of North Myrtle Beach says they needed before Hurricane Matthew, but now they won’t have to pay for it.
“We’ve been trying to get beach re-nourishment even if we had to get the matching funds. When you have matching funds, the federal government pays 65 percent of it and then the rest is paid by the city and the state,” said Mayor of North Myrtle Beach Marilyn Hatley.
Mayor Hatley says they still have a lot of work to do in North Myrtle Beach but thanks to emergency funds from the federal government, when it comes to beach renourishment, the city won’t be footing the bill.
“We’re going to have to pay for the dunes to be rebuilt and we’re going to have to pay for the sea oaks and anything else that goes along with the dunes, but it still saves us millions of dollars,” said Mayor Hatley.
Dr. Paul Gayes is a coastal oceanographer who has studied area beaches for years and says damages from recent storms highlight a bigger problem.
“We can’t get to the end of a re-nourishment cycle, get hit by a storm, and now there’s an emergency, now you’ve got stuff really at risk. I mean, a category five comes in, the re-nourishment’s not going to help you,” said coastal oceanographer Dr. Paul Gayes.
Dr. Gayes says renourishment is a short term solution to a long-term problem and while having the federal funding saves North Myrtle Beach and the state millions, the bigger question is what will happen to the beaches when the money isn’t there?
“At some point, there’s this balance of cost and benefit. There may be sites where it’s very expensive. This is going to be pretty expensive, it’s not something one home owner can do. It’s not something probably most communities can do unless they’re a big city or have a lot of revenue generated like Myrtle Beach or North Myrtle Beach. So, there’s going to be a line in there where it’s a tough question,” said Dr. Gayes.
Mayor Hatley says they expect to start re-nourishment this year and the timeline of putting out bids and bringing in dredgers will depend on the Army Corps of Engineers.