Florida residents take it upon themselves to repair sand dunes destroyed by hurricanes

Residents repairing sand dunes themselves

A group of neighbors in New Smyrna Beach, Florida have banded together to rebuild the dunes in front of their property.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. - A group of neighbors in New Smyrna Beach have banded together to rebuild the dunes in front of their property.

Teri Corbett, owner of a vacation rental property called Angel Inn the Sand spearheaded the plans to dump more than 1,000 tons of sand to reconstruct the dunes near East Third Avenue. The process started on Tuesday, with workers dumping over half the total in a few hours.

Corbett said she’d been working on a solution since the aftermath of hurricanes Ian and Nicole. The entire project costs about 50 thousand dollars. That figure is being split up by Corbett and eight other neighbors involved in the project.

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"It just feels good to give back to the community," she said. "Building back the dunes is one of the only hopes of saving their homes."

Initially, construction and repair projects were not allowed beginning May 1, however, a recent rule change from the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission loosened those restrictions. If that wasn’t the case, Corbett and her peers would’ve had to wait until November.

"There’s nothing better than coming into a neighborhood, knowing everybody’s name and knowing that we helped them in a time of need," she said.

The work is scheduled to continue on Wednesday after they evaluate the status of turtle nesting in the area.