$11.25M erosion project underway as East End braces for more storms

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday began getting machinery in place to shore up beaches and dunes in downtown Montauk as the hamlet and other coastal areas braced for another round of weather they worried could cause further erosion.

The $11.25 million project, funded after Superstorm Sandy to improve resiliency along Long Island's shorelines, began shortly after recent storms caused more damage than any others since the 2012 event. In the past month, large sweeps of the South Shore’s sandy beaches have washed out to sea and rolling dunes have been replaced by steep escarpments.  

“We are still assessing the impact of the three storms starting Dec. 18,” said George Gorman, Long Island regional director of New York State Parks. The storms have caused “significant erosion” at several oceanfront parks, including Gilgo and Hither Hills, where the cumulative damage was especially severe, Gorman said. And there was flooding at Jones Beach and Robert Moses State Park, as well as Orient Beach on the North Shore, where the picnic area and parking lot were under water.

Many of the parks department’s buildings were rebuilt after Sandy, with important infrastructure moved to the upper floors, so there was only minor flooding and no real damage, Gorman said.

As for possible repairs to the beaches, Gorman said, “We are coordinating with the Army Corps of Engineers on future plans.”

The Corps is already busy with its latest sand replenishment project on the East End. In the coming weeks, a dredging vessel floating off the coast will begin to scoop sand from the sea floor and then pipe 450,000 cubic yards of sand onto Montauk’s badly eroded shoreline. The project, including new fencing, plantings and some repairs, is funded from federal and state coffers and is part of the Army Corps’ Fire Island to Montauk Point plan, known as FIMP. It is intended to provide long-term protection for areas prone to flooding, erosion and other storm damage.

But the battle against the rising seas will not end there.

“With every impending storm there’s added concern of further erosion,” Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine said in a statement issued through his communications director, Mike Martino.

Not everyone is on board with the beach “nourishment” program, however. In the aftermath of the storms, many Long Islanders are clamoring for the Army Corps to come in with more sand, said Kevin McAllister, president of Defend H2O, a nonprofit in Sag Harbor that works on climate resiliency issues.

“They think it’s the panacea,” McAllister said.

But with the increased frequency and power of storms, the sand that’s pumped onto Long Island’s shores may last just a matter of months. A sand replenishment project was completed in Fire Island last spring, McAllister said, but “that sand is gone,” washed away by the pounding surf.

And in the end, “the sand renourishment will not keep pace with sea level rise," he said. "A few years ago, no one wanted to talk about coastal retreat, but it's in my vernacular. We need to roll back."