THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411240269
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN AND DEBBIE MESSINA, STAFF WRITERS
LENGTH: Long : 152 lines
LOSSES TO HOMES and bulkheads from Hurricane Gordon's near miss hit the $2.5 million mark last week and could inch higher as residents of Sandbridge continue their search for additional damage hidden under the sand and muck.
The punishing two-day storm, made worse by a full-moon tide and northeasterly winds, destroyed a record 48 bulkheads and left behind dozens of homeowners facing costly repairs or risking the loss of cherished vacation homes and residences.
``This is by far the most bulkheads we have lost in any storm,'' said city assessor Jerry Banagan. ``About $1.9 million of the total (damage) was in bulkheads alone. The number of decks lost, I just don't have a count.''
The city condemned at least 12 homes - some temporarily because of exposed or disconnected septic tanks - while five more homes were rendered structurally unsafe after the storm.
While the loss to city tax revenues is miniscule - about $15,000 - the personal financial loss to the residents who bought the bulkheads as protection against a stormy sea was enormous.
Built where the beach is but a memory, bulkheads are considered expensive insurance policies by their owners and cost between $30,000 to $50,000 for a typical oceanfront property. About 170 bulkheads line the oceanfront at Sandbridge. Insurance policies for them are nearly impossible to obtain.
There also are the costs of replacing gnarled decks, regrading crumbled driveways, installing new septic systems at $1,500 to $3,000, and repairing damage to the homes themselves.
The storm's effects also intensified feelings among Sandbridge residents about the planned beach replenishment program, which is not scheduled to begin for another 2 1/2 years.
Residents have fought a decadelong battle to have the beach rebuilt and only won approval from the city this year.
However welcome the replenishment may be, many now face a dilemma: do they invest yet more money in their homes and bulkheads, or do they wait for sand and pray for hurricane-free falls and mild winters?
``There's no real sense of abandonment here,'' said Pete Galanides, secretary of the Sandbridge Oceanfront Homeowners Association. ``People are here by choice.
``I think most will repair the damage and continue to own their property,'' said Galanides, whose oceanfront home and bulkhead were not damaged. ``Every storm teaches you a lesson on what works best.''
The problem is compounded because many believe that if sand had been there in the first place the bulkheads would still be standing.
``In these projects, the beach berm acts as a sacrificial berm to absorb the wave energy,'' said Brian Rheinhart, Sandbridge's project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. ``If the sand were in place, the damages would have been much less. How much less, I don't know.''
Among the uncertain was Arlington developer R.H. Stowe, who stood on Monday at a newly created 10-foot cliff, formed when his bulkhead gave way.
``It's a disaster, a complete disaster,'' said Stowe as he pointed to sand that already had begun to pull away from his cottage's foundation. ``There is no insurance, so it'll have to come out of my pocket, like it always does.''
Even if Stowe decides to rebuild, he has doubts about who would do the work. Getting access to steel plates and pulling them out of the surf may be a problem, he said.
``I can't get a quote on repairs right now because I don't know of a contractor who even has the experience to clean this up,'' he said.
If there was any consolation for the Arlington car dealer and contractor, it was the presence of so many other Sandbridge residents who were in the same predicament.
``We want the sand badly,'' said Edith Drake, a Sandbridge resident whose home survived the storm. ``Everyone I have spoken to said if the sand had been in place when you put in the bulkhead then we would not be in this predicament.''
Not everyone supports the idea. City Councilman Robert K. Dean, who has opposed sand for Sandbridge, said it was fortunate that the sand wasn't on the beach yet.
``What would have happened if we would have just finished putting down $9 million worth of sand and lost a good percentage of it?'' Dean asked. ``And this was only the first storm of the season.
``I do not want to come out and be caustic about it. It's something all of us are going to have to face. We're not going to hold back the tide of Mother Nature without an incredible cost.''
Dean took the opportunity to again advocate that the city move all the houses off the oceanfront and make everything east of Sandfiddler Road a public beach.
Councilman John D. Moss, another outspoken Sandbridge critic, said, ``A strategic retreat is still the best policy.''
Although he expressed sympathy for the landowners, ``I do not take any satisfaction that the storm happened.'' Moss said the beach replenishment project is ``all about preserving oceanfront homes and not preserving the beach.''
Even as the debate raged, some of the sand that was in place before the storm may be settling back into place.
``Some of the sand did in fact come back when the winds switched around from the south,'' said Rheinhart, corps project manager. During northeasters, he said, the sand is taken offshore to a 20- to 30-foot depth. Much of it returns with the tide with favorable weather conditions.
``We lose sand with the rough northeast winds in the wintertime. In the summertime, sand is going to come back with southwest and southeast winds.''
Despite the destruction of many bulkheads, residents declare them a success. If not for the bulkheads, the homes would have taken the pounding.
``The bulkheads did not fail,'' said Tom Fraim, president of the Sandbridge Coalition and chairman of the city's Erosion Commission. ``They did what they were designed to do - save substantial amounts of property.
Even bulkhead owners like Galanides say they don't like them. They'd prefer to have a wide sandy beach as protection.
``No one wants a bulkhead,'' Galanides said. ``Bulkheads were never meant to correct the problem. But until we get sand, the bulkhead is our insurance.''
J.W. and Rose Humphries think the key to a permanent bulkhead may lie in its height - or lack of.
The couple from Chesterfield paid for a bulkhead that was two feet shorter than their neighbors' bulkhead, dug more deeply into the sand, and they had it tied back with extra cables - all factors, they said, that kept their bulkhead intact.
But the couple, who own an electrical contracting company, know that time is running short with no beach to protect the bulkhead.
``How long this will last, I don't know,'' J.W. Humphries said. ``But we have to get the sand back. This is just like throwing money into an empty well.'' MEMO: [For a related story, see page 15 of The Beacon for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
[Color Photp]
BATTERED BULKHEADS
Staff photos by PETER D. SUNDBERG
The two-day storm destroyed a record 48 bulkheads and left dozens
of homeowners facing costly repairs or risking the loss of vacation
homes and residences.
Staff photos by PETER D. SUNDBERG
ABOVE: Although Jack Vellines lives on the landward side of
Sandfiddler Road, he was still taking precautions against high wind
and seas that leave water at his doorstep. LEFT: Among the
devastated homeowners was Arlington developer R.H. Stowe, who stood
Monday at a newly created 10-foot cliff, formed when his bulkhead
gave way.
Damage to the beach, homes and bulkheads can be seen up and down
Sandfiddler Road as debris taken out by Gordon washes back up.
``About $1.9 million of the total (damage) was in bulkheads alone,''
said city assessor Jerry Banagan. ``The number of decks lost, I just
don't have a count.''
J.W. Humphries checks his bulkhead, which held. It is two feet
shorter than his neighbors' but dug in more deeply and tied back
with extra cables.
KEYWORDS: HURRICANE GORDON EROSION SAND by CNB