Folly Beach renourishment project finished

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCBD) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Charleston District finished up its Folly Beach renourishment project.

“The project got kicked off based on impacts that we saw from Hurricane Ian. The beach was in really bad condition after Hurricane Ian and prior to the beach renourishment,” said Wes Wilson, the Project Manager with the Army Corps.

Wilson said they met all three of the project’s goals. Between placing material on Bird Key, dredging the Folly River federal navigation channel, and renourishing Folly Beach – the work cost about $22 million.

According to Wilson, contractors placed roughly 1.7 million cubic yards of sand on the beach as part of the project.

“That’s equivalent to about 170,000 dump trucks. And that material is used to build up dunes and berms that will allow the berm to remain in place while storms and tides come and go,” Wilson told News 2.

Beach goers will notice a difference in Folly’s appearance as a result.

“The amount of sand that we placed out there makes the beach wider. More umbrella space. More beach towel space,” Wilson explained.

The completion of the project marks the end of several months of work which started back in March of this year on the seabird sanctuary.

Mother Nature has already put the new tools to the test.

“From there we had two tropical events, after and during the renourishment, and that was Tropical Storm Debby, Hurricane Helene. Although the storm caused minimal damage to the beach, we demonstrated that importance of the renourishment,” Wilson shared. “So, without that sand in place, we would have much more significant impacts.”

Meanwhile the Army Corps and the City of Folly Beach are slated to enter another 50-year agreement.