Cameron County seeking to restore dunes damaged by recent tropical storms
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The calm waters at South Padre Island on Friday contrasted with the rough waters seen last month.
That’s when Tropical Storm Alberto visited the Rio Grande Valley, creating huge tides that impacted the dune system at the island.
“You can see damages all along the beach,” Augusto Sanchez, Cameron County’s director of natural resources, said. "We get impacted by any single system we have in the Gulf."
Sanchez said up to 30 feet of sand dunes from Cameron County beach accesses 2 to 6 were lost.
The damage is exposing the root system of the vegetation on the dunes.
These dunes are the first line of defense against high tide and storms, and they protect infrastructure like roads and buildings in South Padre Island.
While the dunes were mainly impacted by Tropical Storm Alberto, Beryl also caused some damage.
The county sent their damage reports to the Texas Department of Emergency Management in the hopes of receiving state and federal help.
Damage from Alberto triggered an emergency permit for a beach renourishment project which will widen the beach to Isla Blanca Park on the Cameron County side.
“Before we can place beach quality sand in our beaches, we need a permit from the [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.] That's what we're hoping for within the next year or so,” Sanchez said.
While we can't stop the damage from Mother Nature, we can help protect the dunes by not walking or driving over them.
Watch the video above for the full story.
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