By Lisa ZahnerINDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Hurricane Bill shouldn’t come anywhere near Florida, but the county’s beaches may look a little different after the ripple effects of the storm’s force is felt this weekend.”It could be 1,000 miles away and it could still affect the beaches,” said Indian River County Coastal Engineering Director Jonathan Gorham. “Ocean swells go thousands of miles.” Gorham and the other coastal engineering staff is planning to work with park rangers, Fish and Wildlife Commission officers, biologists and volunteers to fan out at daybreak Monday to capture data on any beach erosion or damage to sea turtle nests.”There’s really no way to predict what will happen, but whenever we get a significant wave event, they’re on stand by to do our assessment after the event passes,” he said. About a dozen people regularly check conditions at the county’s beaches as part of the turtle monitoring program, but next week the information they collect will be used to assess Hurricane Bill’s impact on the shoreline. Gorham said the information will be gathered and compiled as soon as possible.”Certainly by Tuesday, the wave event will have passed and we should be able to have information on erosion and turtle nest wash out,” Gorham said.According to Gorham, any potential erosion will not change the design, scope or cost of the pending Sector 3 beach renourishment project set to begin possibly as soon as November, as the County will survey the 6.5-mile target area from Treasure Shores Park to the north end of John’s Island and just prior to contractors beginning work.Many of the County’s beaches have oceanfront structures that have already been declared to be in peril due to damage from the 2004 and 2005 storms. But as far as preventing damage to the shore, the dunes or the turtle nests, there is not much that can be done prior to a storm event.”About the only thing is to bring in any lawn furniture that might be on the beach or that might get swept out on the beach,” Gorham said. “There is no provision in the state regulations for putting sand or anything on the beach in advance of a storm.”
