Beach Restoration Saves a Chenier

The benefits beach restoration provides to cheniers and to infrastructure built on them was demonstrated in 2005 during Hurricane Rita. In 1991, the state placed rock breakwaters offshore to reduce erosion at Holly Beach. In 2003, fearing that their lone evacuation route, Highway 82, would be lost if the chenier on which it was built collapsed into the gulf, the local community instigated CWPPRA project CS-31, Holly Beach Sand Management. This, the first barrier shoreline project completed by CWPPRA, rebuilt the beach in front of the breakwaters, then planted vegetation and erected fencing to hold the sand in place. Although Hurricane Rita swept away all the buildings in Holly Beach, the restored beach and dunes withstood the storm sufficiently to protect the adjacent chenier and highway from destruction.

Photos of Holly Beach before and after Hurricane Rita struck in September 2005. Although the storm destroyed all the buildings in the community, the restored beach protected the chenier on which the highway is built. Arrows establish a common reference point between the photos.

Restoration of Holly Beach began with the placement offshore of rock breakwaters. These barriers altered the pattern of currents, causing sand to accrete and extend points of land into the water. A later project rebuilt the dunes and beach in front of the chenier along which Louisiana Highway 82 runs and added fencing to trap blowing sand and accelerate its accumulation into dunes.