Mother Nature dictated some downtime.
Beach renourishment on Anna Maria Island paused Oct. 7 for the passage of Hurricane Delta in the Gulf of Mexico, about 800 miles west of Tampa Bay.
“The Dredge Savannah ceased operations last night and is heading into Egmont Key for shelter due to Hurricane Delta sea conditions,” David Ruderman, communications representative for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a funding source for the $17 million project, along with the state and Manatee County, wrote The Islander Oct. 8.
Ruderman wrote that the contractor must wait for residual swells to calm before resuming operations, likely starting Oct. 14-15.
Work will pick up just south of Second Street South and continue to about Fourth Street South in Bradenton Beach, then the crew will reconfigure the pipeline to work the section southward toward Coquina Beach, “and all the interested parties are quite satisfied with the quality of the work accomplished so far,” he wrote.
As of Oct. 8, the $17 million renourishment project has piped more than 800,000 cubic yards of sand onto the beach from offshore borrow areas via the Savannah, sometimes employing an additional booster dredge.
Construction began July 8 near 77th Street in Holmes Beach. The project is expected to run through October or early November and will end at Longboat Pass.
People can visit mymanatee.org and search for “beach renourishment updates” for more information about the project.
— ChrisAnn Allen