Florida Ratings

Indicator Type	Info	Status


Beach Access	6	5

Water Quality	8	4

Beach Erosion	9	-

Erosion Response	-	5

Beach Fill	7	-

Shoreline Structures	5	4

Beach Ecology	5	-

Surfing Areas	5	6

Website	8	-

Explain this chart

Florida Beach Erosion

Erosion Data

Approximately 5% of Florida's shoreline is critically eroding, according to the report "State Coastal Program Effectiveness in Protecting Natural Beaches, Dunes, Bluffs, and Rock Shores" (T. Bernd-Cohen and M. Gordon), Coastal Management 27:187-217, 1999.

According to Florida Department of Environmental Protection data, the miles of critically eroded beach have increased from 218 miles in 1989 to approximately 365 miles in 2005. Over 435 miles of Florida's 825 miles of sandy beaches have experienced some erosion, increasing from 332 miles in 1989.

Florida identifies and maps critical erosion areas. "Critically eroded" is defined as "a segment of shoreline where natural processes or human activities have caused or contributed to erosion and recession of the coastal system to such a degree that upland development, recreation, wildlife habitat, or important cultural resources are threatened or lost." Critical erosion areas may also include peripheral segments or gaps between identified critical erosion areas which, although they may be stable or slightly erosional now, their inclusion is necessary for continuity of management of the coastal system or for the design integrity of adjacent beach management projects.(Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 2001). Florida also distinguishes between coastal erosion and beach erosion.

Erosion data is compiled and stored by the Coastal Data and Analysis Section, Bureau of Beaches and Coastal Systems (BBCS), Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). A general reference Web site is http://www.floridadep.org/beaches/programs/cda.htm. The data are available online at http://www.floridadep.org/beaches/data/data.htm and
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/programs/coasteng.htm
and are updated regularly through DEP monitoring, local government project monitoring and annual critical erosion updates. ¹⁴

A report Critically Eroded Beaches in Florida, updated June 2005, provides an inventory of Florida’s erosion problem areas fronting on the Atlantic Ocean, Straits of Florida, Gulf of Mexico, and the roughly seventy coastal barrier tidal inlets. The erosion problem areas are classified as either critical or noncritical and county maps and tables are provided to depict the areas of designated critical and noncritical erosion.

Another rich source of information regading costal erosion, beach fill project monitoring, storm surge research reports, aerial photographs on inlets and more is the Beaches and Shores Reserach Center at Florida State University.

Erosion rates for Florida’s counties are available online:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/publications/tech-rpt.htm#Historic

The county reports prove that Florida’s shoreline is very mobile and large accretion and large erosion events can occur along the same sections of beach over time. Beach fill is common along the shores making present erosion rates difficult to determine.

An analysis of Walton County historic shoreline data show a very mildly eroding shoreline, between +0.5 and -0.5 ft/year. -1.0 ft/year is used for planning purposes. Bay County average erosion rates are estimated to be between -0.5 ft/year and +0.5 ft/year. Duvsre County erosion events vary. The shoreline south of St. Johns River entrance has an average erosion rate of -5.5 ft/year. Flagler County has an average erosion rate of -1.0 ft/year. Sections of Santa Rosa and Escambia Counties have erosion rates of -1 ft/year to -9 ft/year. Sections of Franklin County have average erosion rates up -9 ft/year. Most of Gulf County is experiencing accretion but some sections have average erosion rates up to -43 ft/year. Areas in Nassau County have erosion rates up to -17 ft/year. Okaloosa County’s coastal erosion rates are generally -1 ft/year. There are sections that have erosion rates up to -8.5 ft/year. St. Johns erosion rates are generally considered stable. Volusia County has an average erosion rate of -1 ft/year.

A 1999 mapping project done by the Federal Emergency Management Administration concluded that in Brevard County the average erosion rate is 6.6 ft/year, in Escambia County the average erosion rate is 4.3 ft/year, and in Lee County the average erosion rate is 30 ft/year.

According to the 2000 FACT report, Florida's coastline is extremely vulnerable to a range of natural hazards. The most serious and continuous threat is that posed by hurricanes and tropical storm events. As a result of Hurricane Andrew in 1992, 43 people were killed and damages amounted to $25 billion. Florida uses the Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) numerical computer model for predicting storm surge inundation zones and estimating the vulnerability of each zone to flooding.

The 2000 FACT report provides estimates of the number of people per county and percent of county population in the storm surge zones. For example, in Dade County 272,000 people (12% of the residents) are in the storm surge zone. According to the 2000 FACT report, 10 counties have over 50% of their population in the most highly vulnerable area, the storm surge zones. In three counties this value is over 70%. A survey suggests that public awareness of the level of risk is high for 59% of the population, the rest having moderate to low understanding. While perhaps not directly relevant to the beach health indicators, this is a good example of the sort of information that can be developed to support decision-making.

The 2000 FACT report notes that erosion can significantly reduce the amount of beach available for public use. Beaches that have lost much of their sand offer less space for recreation, public facilities become more vulnerable to destruction, and the beach is visually less appealing. Erosion can also destroy structures built along the coast. When sand and sand dunes are washed away, so is the protection they provide for buildings built on the coast. Eroding beaches also mean less habitat for species of animals and plants that are dependent upon the dunes and beaches.

The BBCS conducted beach profile studies and concluded that from 1989 to 1993 the amount of eroding shoreline in Florida increased from 332 to 356 miles. This change is a 7% increase over five years. The study divided eroding shoreline into critically and non-critically eroding areas. Critically eroding areas have structures threatened by erosion. Non-critical erosion does not affect man-made structures. During the same period, critically eroding areas increased from 218 to 233 miles, and non-critically eroding areas extended from 115 to 123 miles.

In 1998 the definition of "critical erosion" was expanded to include threats to existing development or recreational interests, and threats to, or loss of, wildlife habitat or important cultural resources. The updated (June 2008) Critical Erosion Areas Report includes tables with listings of the erosion areas for the 35 coastal counties, along with maps of erosion areas for most of the coastal counties.

The BBCS determined that from 1993 to 2000 the amount of eroding shoreline in Florida increased from 356 to 448.7 miles. The latest estimate (August 2003) of the amount of eroding shoreline is 433.8 miles. This huge increase can be largely attributed to the major storms of 1994, 1995, 1998, and 1999, which altered Florida's shoreline. The 2000 erosion list includes 327.9 miles of critical beach erosion, 9.1 miles of critical inlet shoreline erosion, 108 miles of non-critical beach erosion, and 3.7 miles of non-critical inlet shoreline erosion.

As of the 2000 FACT report, more than 75% of Florida's shoreline was identified as critically eroding. All beaches defined as critically eroding areas are under a beach maintenance program, which typically involves restoration and re-fill.

The 2004 hurricane season was the most active storm season since 1851. The hurricanes of 2004 did unprecedented damage to much of Florida's 800 miles of sandy beaches. They reshaped long stretches on both coasts, worsened already serious erosion, erased tens of millions of dollars worth of recent beach rebuilding and destroyed or seriously damaged some 2,000 seaside buildings. Interestingly, little erosion was noted in areas that still have natural, undeveloped beaches, such as along Juno Beach and elsewhere in north Palm Beach County and at Canaveral National Seashore. The vegetation and natural features, such as sand dunes, allow such beaches to survive the poundings of storms, according to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in September 2004 caused an estimated $127 million worth of damage to county-owned property along the Tresure Coast. At Wabasso Beach Park, the storms left in a heap of splintered wood the part of the restrooms, lifeguard station and boardwalk they didn't sweep away to the sea, and even broke off the eastern end of the access road. A $1 million project to replace the boardwalk, restrooms, lifeguard station and picnic pavilion and add piling foundations for the restrooms was expected to be put out for bid in January 2007.

Erosion problems continued in several locations during the winter of 2004-2005, including in New Smyrna Beach, where beachside motels and condominiums suffered damage, seawalls collapsed and a gazebo at a beach boardwalk park fell.

There was an early start to the hurricane season in 2005, with Hurricane Dennis slamming the Florida panhandle on July 10. Dunes vanished on St. George Island and in Walton County the foundations of comdominiums and homes were left hanging over the edge of a cliff 20 feet above the beach. In response, some communities requested that they be allowed to "scrape" the beach (push sand from the beach back to what's remaining of the dunes), but in some cases this can accelerate erosion and the scraping must be timed to not interfere with sea turtle nesting. State environmental secretary Colleen Castille was quoted as saying that she was pushing for emergency authorization to expand and accelerate beach fill projects.

Substantial coastal erosion occurred in many areas along the Atlantic coast of Florida in May 2007 when an early tropical storm brought large waves. This prompted calls for emergency funding for beach fill or other shoreline protection projects. The state issued an emergency order following the storm to speed repairs to erosion-battered protective structures along a section of St. Johns County and five other stretches of Florida beaches. The state Department of Environmental Protection said the order was designed to expedite permitting for repairs in the aftermath of Subtropical Storm Andrea. It allowed local governments and property owners to seek emergency permits for armoring, reinforcement of foundations, placing of sandbags and construction of protective berms and walls. The 30-day emergency declaration covered a 10,000-foot stretch of St. Johns County flanked by the Guana River State Park, as well as segments of beach in Volusia and Palm Beach counties.

The following discussion is from Why Restore Eroded Beaches? on the FDEP Web site:

a significant amount of coastal erosion in Florida is directly attributable to the construction and maintenance of navigation inlets

The beaches and coastal systems publications page provides access to general publications (including coastal control line publications, vegetation and dune line publications, and even PowerPoint™ presentations) and technical reports (including the most up-to-date critical erosion reports and maps, shoreline change estimate reports, and historic shoreline change reports).
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/publications/publcsns.htm

Coastal erosion data is also available at:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/beaches/data/data.htm

Additional data is available via the Geology and GIS pages of the FDEP Web site:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/geology/
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gis/

The good source of coastal erosion information and information on beach fill projects is the Beaches and Shores Resource Center at Florida State University.
http://beach10.beaches.fsu.edu/

The Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey has generated a comprehensive database of digital vector shorelines and shoreline change rates for the U.S. Southeast Atlantic Coast (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina). These data were compiled as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2005/1326/

The Heinz Center's Evaluation of Erosion Hazards, conducted for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, studied the causes of coastal erosion hazards and proposed a variety of national and regional responses. The study, published in April 2000, concentrates on the economic impacts of erosion response policies as well as the cost of erosion itself to homeowners, businesses, and governmental entities. The Heinz study is available on the Web at: http://heinzhome.heinzctrinfo.net/publications/PDF/erosnrpt.pdf#pagemode=bookmarks&view=Fit

A NOAA Web site that has graphs of sea level data for many coastal locations around the country over the last 40 to 50 years and projections into the future is http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.shtml

The Florida Sea Grant Web site is another source of information. http://www.flseagrant.org/

NOAA recently launched the NOAA Shoreline Web site. The site is a comprehensive guide to national shoreline data and terms and is the first site to allow vector shoreline data from NOAA and other federal agencies to be conveniently accessed and compared in one place. Supporting context is also included via frequently asked questions, common uses of shoreline data, shoreline terms, and references. Many NOAA branches and offices have a stake in developing shoreline data, but this is the first-ever NOAA Web site to provide access to all NOAA shorelines, plus data from other federal agencies. The site is a culmination of efforts of NOAA and several offices within NOS (including NOAA’s Coastal Services Center, National Geodetic Survey, Office of Coast Survey, Special Projects Office, and Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management) and other federal agencies to provide coastal resource managers with accurate and useful shoreline data. For more information, contact Tara Miller (tara.miller@noaa.gov).

Erosion Contact Info

Ralph Clark
Department of Environmental Protection
Marjory Stoneman Douglas Building
3900 Commonwealth Boulevard
Tallahassee, FL 32399-3000
Email: Ralph.Clark@dep.state.fl.us

Hazard Avoidance Policies/Erosion Response

See Erosion Response section.