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Rita Stalls Panama City Beach, Fla., Renourishment

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Valerie Lovett, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.

Sep. 27--PANAMA CITY BEACH -- Once again a summer storm stopped work on the beleaguered beach renourishment project last week, and once again, there's no telling how much damage was done.

"I don't even know if it caused much erosion, if any," said Tourist Development Council coastal engineer Lisa Armbruster on Monday afternoon from a meeting in Pensacola. "I haven't even seen the beach today."

Since June 1, Tropical Storm Arlene, hurricanes Dennis and Katrina, and now Hurricane Rita forced a pause in pumping sand onto the beach. The $30 million project, mostly federally funded and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is sponsored locally by the TDC.

The project is aimed at replacing about 3.5 million cubic yards of sand lost since the first nourishment project in 1998. Funding for the effort comes mostly from a $148 million "emergency" allocation approved by Congress last October.

Hurricane Dennis may have swept away up to 2 million cubic yards of sand, Armbruster has said, stressing that figure remains a "guesstimate." The Corps plans to do a survey to determine the overall losses from all of the storms, she said, but when that will start is still "up in the air."

"Everything is up in the air," she said.

The dredge that had been pumping sand onto the beach for the project is now set to be replaced by a hopper dredge that essentially will scoop up the sand and move it inland for discharge along the shore.

Because of Rita, Armbruster said, she doesn't know when to expect the hopper's arrival.

The TDC will receive an update on the dredging and nourishment project as part of its regular meeting today at the Panama City Beach City Hall council room at 9 a.m.

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Copyright (c) 2005, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.

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Source: The News Herald

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