Coastal flooding at South Padre Island is running up into the dunes this week, causing some of them to be washed away, city official said. 

"A lot of the front — the line of vegetation right at the beach — our frontal dunes, a lot of those were impacted,” SPI shoreline Director Kristina Boburka said.

The city has been working on restoring the dunes over the past year, and the current beach conditions are affecting those efforts.

"The waves, it did rip out a couple of our sand fencing unfortunately, but again this is such a strong reminder as to why we have our dunes out there," Boburka said.

The sand dune restoration project was launched after the 2020 hurricane season after some of the dunes were wiped out. Since the project's launch, the city has been able to restore 20 to 30 feet of dune that was lost.

"The beaches and dunes are the first line of defense to protect the city from storms,” Boburka said. “Our department’s role is to ensure we have a wide beach as well as a resilient coastline for protection against these kinds of events."