Nor'easter takes a bite out of Delaware beaches, leaving 'significant' erosion

Delmarva beaches felt the brunt of Wednesday's nor'easter while the rest of the area was spared from significant snowfall.

The Delaware shoreline had a problem with erosion, but none worse than Bethany Beach, which lost three sets of stairs, said Mike Powell, DNREC natural hazards program manager.

"We had significant beach erosion along the Atlantic Ocean coast," he said. "Rehoboth Beach and Bethany Beach experienced beach erosion, and the Delaware Bay beaches were also eroded. The hardest-hit area I saw was Bethany Beach."

Nor'easters like Wednesday's storm are what make beach replenishment for Bethany Beach, South Bethany Beach and Fenwick Island so crucial, he said.

In Bethany Beach, the beach is narrow with little dune protection, making this summer's replenishment project important, even if it is during the middle of tourism season.

Cliff Graviet, Bethany Beach's town manager, said they are fortunate the storm was not as powerful as it could have been, but it was still strong and took sand off the beach.

Graviet said the storm has left Bethany Beach vulnerable if there is another nor'easter or a similarly strong storm this season.

"There is very little left," he said. "There’s not much sand, and I don’t know if there would be enough beach buildup before the next (nor'easter) because we are in the time of the year when we get them. This whole time period over the next 60 days, we are very vulnerable here."

If there is another storm, and the dunes are damaged, inland infrastructure such as the boardwalk and beach homes will be more susceptible to damage.

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Beach replenishment is set to begin May 15 in Bethany Beach and is expected to take 28 days to complete. Work in South Bethany Beach will take place in mid-June, and work in Fenwick Island is set to begin in early July.

In total, the projects are expected to cost $19.28 million, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.

Rehoboth Beach got lucky, said Krys Johnson, Rehoboth Beach communications specialist, with the water already beginning to recede.

"Mostly this storm just blew through with sand and water and took tree limbs down," she said. "It’s sunny and beautiful now, and the water dissipates quickly. We don’t have any concerns about the beach, and we just have minimal damage from the wind and tide cycles."

It could have been a lot worse, she said.

They were very fortunate, she added, and there will be no need for any sort of emergency nourishment.

Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach underwent regular beach replenishment in the fall of 2016, Powell said. It is not DNREC's decision whether or not they will receive any other replenishment after this storm — that's up to the Army Corps of Engineers and Congress, Powell said.

Much of the sand that was taken off the beach in Rehoboth Beach and Dewey Beach will naturally come back over the course of the spring as calmer weather returns, Powell said, and people can expect to see a much wider beach in Rehoboth and Dewey "in a couple of months."

It is still too early to tell if there will be any sort of dollar amount attached to repairing the beaches beyond the scheduled beach replenishment for the southern beaches, Powell said, and they are hopeful the sand in the northern beaches will come back naturally.

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The sand, he added, worked well as a buffer against the storm.

"There was very little structural damage along the coast," he said. "Other than those steps in Bethany Beach, I did not see any damage to buildings or boardwalks, and that is the purpose of the sand, to buffer damage to buildings, so it served its purpose. It prevented a lot of damage."

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