Piers like these in St. Johns County's North Beach community are easily inundated when high storm surge floods the area. | St. Johns County
Published on June 21, 2024 at 4:36 pm
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Could a seawall help a flood prone community north of St. Augustine? That’s what representatives from St. Johns County and elected officials got together to discuss Friday after a boat ride.
The subject area is the North Beach and Vilano Beach community, where storm surges have caused devastating flood damage for some residents. While it’s still in its very early stages, St. Johns County hopes to get funding for a seawall that could keep floodwaters at bay.
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“The surge is getting higher and higher,” County Administrator Joy Andrews told Jacksonville Today, “so today what we talked about is truly a contiguous seawall that is going to be on the intercoastal waterway side, and that is about 1 to 1½ mile.”
A project like that could cost upwards of $100 million, Andrews said, so the county hopes for some state and federal support so the county doesn’t have to ask residents to cough up the cash.
That’s where federal representatives, like U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, who represents parts of Duval, St. Johns and Clay counties, come in. He joined Andrews, Florida state Rep. Cyndi Stevenson and others on the boat trip around North Beach.
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Rutherford says projects like what North Beach needs are exactly what funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is for.
“That’s what that money should be there for,” Rutherford said. “They also have, through FEMA, the (Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program), but that’s after the fact. That’s to mitigate. I much prefer we build resiliency than mitigation.”
With a number of flood mitigation projects in various stages across the county, Andrews said that it’s too early to give a timeline for North Beach’s seawall but that residents should know it’s on the county’s mind.
“The community that is not at the front of the intercoastal waterway love it, because it doesn’t impact them and it will help their flooding situation,” she said. “I think the homeowners at the waterfront are going to be the group of communities that we need to speak to and educate and collaborate with.”
While local support exists for the project, Andrews said, it’s a matter of finding out how to fund it.
“But there is only so much money the locals can come up with without going to our residents, and we really don’t want to because we don’t need to do that,” she said.
