12M for Dauphin Island’s East End

Gustav Beach Dauphin Island officials want to build a bigger beach to fix erosion problems on the East end.

by Tiffany Craig

Published: Thu, October 23, 2008 - 8:58 pm CST Last Updated: Thu, October 23, 2008 - 9:18 pm CST

FEMA officials are headed to Dauphin Island on Friday to talk about a new berm.

The 3.6 million dollar wall of sand washed away last month by Hurricane Gustav. The berm was 10 feet high and protected homes on the island's West end. FEMA and island officials are meeting to discuss the possibility of federal money paying for a new one.

Talk of rebuilding the berm comes after local leaders got together to talk about helping out the East end of the island.

Mayor Jeff Collier says the East end is the heart of his city and needs to be protected too. He has a team of experts looking into the erosion problems. Instead of a berm, erosion experts believe extending the beach... in other words.. building more beach would be a long-term fix. The city needs more than 1-million for another study on the project. The entire price tag could top 12-million.

Now, the challenge is finding the money to get the project rolling! State Representative Spencer Collier says the state doesn't have the money to help and federal help could be years away.

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alister fiend Says:

Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 7:18 pm

12 million could feed , even shelter the needy , but lets help the poor on dauphin island, thats just sorry

pacerpadre Says:

Sat, Oct 25, 2008 at 9:56 am

This is truly sickening.

carl Says:

Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 10:29 am

Big heavy rocks seem to be a good Idea for something with a longer life span.At first they might not be as attractive as sand but after a few seasons of storms they should look like permanent sand berms. You can only ride a horse so far and money for something that might not even make it through one season is gonna get hard to come by in the near future.

ScottM71 Says:

Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 9:57 am

I live on the East End of Dauphin Island. This “berm” project was ridiculous from the start. As is ANY “berm” project here. All that was done with the 3.6 MILLION dollars before, was to truck in sand, pat it down, and walk away. Not thinking that POSSIBLY it could wash away if it was left unprotected. You want a berm? Bring in rocks. Heavy, big rocks. This is an island, and its always shifting. The sand berms are useless in the long run. Ask the west end residents who had their houses inundated by sand from Gustav and Ike. Just another stupid political tax money waster, that makes us look like whiners. Sorry, Im not one of them folks. Im ashamed.