Officials work to protect beaches from shore damage in Georgetown County

GEORGETOWN, S.C. (WCBD)—On Thursday, officials in Georgetown County held a council retreat to discuss new updates on current and future issues across the area to help better serve residents in the community. 

“We’re working with Georgetown County on developing a long-term beach management plan, focusing on the county’s unincorporated areas and developing a strategy to get engineered beaches that are healthy and sustainable,” said Steven Traynem, the president of coastal science engineering.

The Georgetown County Department of Public Services said the Litchfield and Garden Beach shorelines were nearly destroyed during Tropical Storm Debby.

Officials said they first noticed shore damage in 2015 when Hurricane Joaquin hit. Destroying beach fronts, access points, and shorelines, they soon began researching how to protect them.

“Part of the study that we’ve done is to look at historical erosion rates of the existing beach condition and identify where sand is needed, how much sand, how that sand should be placed, and where it’s sourced from to make it as economical as possible.”

Engineers said every year, the beaches in the county lose nearly 200,000 cubic yards of sand, which could cause a vital part of our lifestyle and ecosystem to shrink and potentially disappear. Leaders told News 2 they are dedicated to preventing.

“So, it’s where people go to enjoy family time. It’s a resource for habitats, sea turtles, clover of different species use these areas anything from fishermen using the waterways, so we’re trying to take all these different entities and preserve the use of the beach for all these reasons.”

Georgetown County told News 2 they’re currently in the planning phase of the beach preservation project, and they hope to release more information soon.