A Case of the Disappearing Waves

But in the past decade, local surfers have come to dread the hurricane season.

In St. Augustine, they reel off the names of hurricanes from memory. In 1960, there was Donna. In 1999, it was Floyd. But the threat of a direct hit seemed distant at best. Then, in 2016, Hurricane Matthew buzzed the coast, flooding thousands of homes in St. Johns County. “St. Augustine never flooded,” remembered Morton, who grew up there. “That wasn’t something we thought about.”

In 2017, just eleven months after Matthew, Hurricane Irma flooded places that had previously been bone dry. And then in September 2022, residents added Hurricane Ian to the list of storms as it lashed the entire state.

Last year, as hurricane season ended and the air turned cool, the area where Blowhole and Middles once drew thousands of surfers was in some ways returning to its former self. As the dunes grew, the beach did, too. Soon, well-formed sandbars were taking shape while other parts of the county were eroding just as quickly.

In June 2022, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection deemed just under half of St. Johns County’s coastline critically endangered. Since 2001, local, state and federal agencies have spent more than $125 million on projects to address erosion, including the renourishment of St. Augustine Beach and attempts to restore the Summer Haven river.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/10/sports/a-case-of-the-disappearing-waves.html