DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. — While Volusia County was spared by Hurricane Idalia, local leaders continue to focus on recovery efforts tied to last year’s major storms.

The damage hurricanes Ian and Nicole caused to the coastal infrastructure are still visible in Daytona Beach Shores, where approximately 6.7 million cubic yards of sand have eroded from the county’s beaches.

This loss of sand has changed the beach system, affecting the county’s recovery efforts and the way residents and visitors use local beaches.

But in an update on Tuesday morning during a county council meeting, officials shared that although there is still a long road ahead, a lot of progress has been made.

“We have come a long way after Hurricane Nicole and Hurricane Ian, which probably caused the most significant beach erosion that we have experienced in 80 years,” Volusia County Coastal Director Jessica Fentress said during the meeting. 

As of today, the county has opened 107 out of 141 beach walkovers, as well as 16 parks, leaving them with the Edwin Peck Sr. Park waiting to open. Officials hope construction starts in the winter.

They also shared that all the ramps are open to pedestrian and vehicles.

“I cried when I saw it. It’s not my house, but it’s one of our owner’s houses who’s a really, really nice guy, really nice family. And we had told him to leave the night before. And the next day when we went back, everything was gone and destroyed,” Krista Goodrich said about the damage.

While she looks at the pictures of one of the properties destroyed by the hurricanes, the memories come back of the day when she first went to see the damage.

“That was the master bedroom, and that was me looking into the master bedroom. And right there was the pool. And the pool, as you can see, has disappeared. There was about 20 more feet of house back here and then 30 more feet of sand and it’s all gone. It’s still going to this day,” Goodrich said.

She is the owner of SaltyDog Vacations, a short-term rentals business in Volusia and Flagler counties.

“We still have eight units that are completely not usable still today. And then we have a handful of condos that have come back online where the buildings were either shut down or the pools were shut down. And then we have the biggest portion is condos that don’t have their pool or beach access available. There’s still a lot of that going on,” Goodrich said.

She says their business has felt the impact of these damages. 

“Our business is off between 30 and 60% at any given time, so it’s been way slower. And on top of the damaged units, a lot of people don’t want to come just to an area that’s still damaged. So even the units that are in service aren’t getting the same numbers they were getting in past years,” Goodrich said.

One of the temporary solutions the county has in place are TrapBags, which allow beach quality sand to be placed inside of the bag as the first line of protection, and they also act as a protective nest to sea turtles and provides protection from high tide.

The county has installed TrapBags on more than 300 private properties.

“So in the shores and down in Wilber, we have several properties that have benefited from the sandbags and those are great. They did finally show up right before hurricane season got crazy. So that’s good. We’re still nervous, obviously, from what we saw last year, and we still got two more months to go,” Goodrich said.

The county received $5 million from the Department of Environmental Protection for the TrapBags, and in March, they received an additional $37 million.

Officials say about 90% of TrapBag eligible property owners have assigned easements to the county, and in October they will start a direct mail campaign for the remaining property owners, asking for an easement for TrapBag placement.