Volusia County to use sandbag system to help prevent more beach erosion, damage

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Beach restoration is still underway in Volusia County after back-to-back hurricanes wiped away several seawalls.

Some condo associations and hotels have started installing a sandbag system to help. It’s a simple system involving multiple layers of sandbags with a skirt at the bottom to keep water from washing away the sand from underneath.

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If the bags weren’t there, the structures would still be exposed and could be damaged even more. It’s a solution several months in the making.

“It’s just a good form of temporary erosion control,” said Jake Taylor, owner of Central Florida Landworks.

Read: Flagler County receives $17 million to help fix coastal erosion

Multiple condos and hotels hired Taylor and his team to install the sandbag system to protect damaged properties while owners wait for permits to rebuild seawalls.

“If there is nothing there to protect it the sand is just gonna erode away that we’re backfilling,” Taylor said. “It’s just keeping the sand behind it. The waves can hit it all day, all night and they are not going anywhere at all.”

Read: Gov. DeSantis announces additional $500 million in hurricane recovery funding

This same style of sandbags will soon be seen up and down the Volusia County coastline.

“It’s a temporary measure but it allows you to put sand on the beach instead of just using unpermitted material,” said Jessica Fentress, Volusia County coastal division director.

Fentress said turtle nesting season, which begins in March, could create some construction barriers.

Read: Coastal property owners anxiously wait for permits to begin dune restoration

“We need some sort of temporary measure in place and a turtle, it’s very hard for a turtle to get trapped in a bag of sand,” she said.

Although the bags are a temporary fix, Fentress said the additional sand will give the area the support it needs before rebuilding begins.

Read: Archaeologists: Mystery object unearthed by hurricanes in Volusia County could be 1800s cargo ship

“All they have to do is get a box cutter, cut V’s in the bag, shake it out and then you’ve got beautiful beach sand right there for either backfill or on the east side of the seawalls,” she said.

The contract for the project was approved Tuesday night so details about where the bags will go are still in the works.

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