ASSATEAGUE STATE PARK, Md. -- Storms over the past two weeks have caused noticeable erosion at Assateague State Park, where sections of the beach are now marked by steep drop-offs.
Park Manager Angela Baldwin said this is a repeat issue near the Youth Group Beach and F loop crossover, especially with storms as Delmarva saw in January.
Baldwin also said the sand is frozen, creating unstable dune ledges that continue to crumble as the sand thaws out. Some of the erosion has formed heavy chunks of sand, which Baldwin says can be as heavy as regular ice chunks.
The drop-offs and large, crumbling chunks have prompted the park to block off certain entrances for safety reasons.
“It’s certainly more of a defined ledge this season than I’d say from last season or the year before,” surfer Danny O'Malley said Tuesday.
“It’s a ten, twelve-foot drop off," Billy Weiland, another surfer, told WBOC.
The ocean was still churning after the recent weather, prompting surfers to take advantage of some of the waves; Weiland was among them. He visits the park daily and said the spot tends to erode annually around this time of year.
“We get big south swells, big nor’easters, and it tends to be a sweet spot where the dune system or dune field will get cut a lot," Weiland said. "There’s not a lot of vegetation that’s really taken a hold of the dune there either, so it doesn’t really have a lot to keep it in place."
Weiland said additional vegetation could help stabilize the dunes and hopes the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will step in if affected areas do not naturally rebuild.
“We’re only a few months away from the busy season here. So as more people start to come in and use the beach, then yeah, they might need to bring sand in," Weiland said.
Baldwin said they will continue to monitor the eroded sections of the beach over the coming weeks. She said some areas will be able to heal themselves. Others, such as the access areas, Baldwin said, will bring equipment to and repair ahead of the busy season.
Baldwin also asks visitors to use the park’s main entrance and to avoid getting too close to the dune drop-offs, citing ongoing safety concerns as erosion continues.