Looking back on Hurricane Ian, how our beaches stand progressing into peak hurricane season

SOUTHEASTERN, NC (WWAY)– One year ago, residents on the southwest coast of Florida were preparing for one of the strongest storms in the state’s history.  

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida as a category 4 hurricane, before making a second landfall near the Cape Fear a week later.   

Officials say our beaches are in a good place to protect land from any storms we could still see in this peak time of hurricane season.   

Following a powerful landfall in Southwest Florida one year ago on Saturday, Hurricane Ian re-strengthened in the Atlantic, making one final landfall in Georgetown, South Carolina as a category 1 storm a week later, bringing impacts to the Cape Fear.   

“The ocean side of the walkways, some of those were damaged, at just the tip of them, nothing major, but we did have some issues there,” said Richard Childres, Sunset Beach’s Fire Chief.   

Places closer to the point of landfall, like Sunset Beach, experienced structural damage, as well as minor beach erosion. Sunset Beach Fire Chief, Richard Childres, is crediting dunes for minimal impacts and quick repairs.   

“As they’ve helped in the past, in past storms, in pervious storms, they did their job. They did it well. All the walkways were able to be quickly repaired, so very limited time the individual walkways were down, and then our dunes have also grown back to be in a healthy state again,” said Childres.   

Beaches like Carolina, Kure, and Ocean Isle also experienced minimal damage from Ian, thanks to beach renourishment efforts from the US Army Corp of engineers back in 2018. 

As we progress into the peak months of hurricane season, The Corp of Engineers are continuing their efforts to ensure area beaches can weather any storm that could still come this season.  

“We proactively place materials on the beach, on those nourishment cycles, to protect infrastructure in storm events. So basically, we’re building up the beaches, knowing the storms will be coming, and having that protection in place to protect infrastructure,” said Brennan Dooley, Project Manager with the Wilmington Corp of Engineers, Wilmington District.  

The Corp of Engineers recently received a grant that will allow for the renourishment of Wrightsville Beach to begin in November. This project will reduce risk to infrastructure by providing a level of protection against hurricanes and coastal storms for hurricane seasons to come.   

“Being in hurricane season still, as feel as the Wilmington District is postured very well to be prepared for any kind of storm events. Carolina Beach, Kure Beach, Ocean Isle Beach are three of the four projects that were renourished just in our last fiscal year, so those projects are in really good shape,” said Dooley. 

Hurricane Ian was the fourth strongest storm to make landfall in Florida. It reached the Cape Fear still near hurricane strength after making its second landfall near Georgetown, South Carolina.