The Impact of Hurricane Dorian on Coastal Structures
Paul DelFino
An Update on the Repair Featured In My May 2018 Sea Wall Blog
In May 2018 I/HMI published a blog discussing the utilization of HMI foams for Sea Wall repair(Blog Link: SEAWALL REPAIR ) In this blog I embedded a photo of myself applying HMI soil stabilizer to a traditional wash out area following hurricanes. Given events over the past month I thought it appropriate to provide an update following a recent visit by Hurricane Dorian.
THE PROBLEM – The area where my dock ramp meets land enjoys a transition from pavers to a wood ramp. The doc ramp stingers interface with the coquina stone sea wall with short piles, The south side had historically taken the worst beating as south west winds drive wind created waves at this critical location. The dock is positioned in a particularly wide area of the inter-coastal waterway in Florida. Hurricanes Mathew in 2015 and Irma in 2016 had me losing the entire ramp and experiencing consecutive wash outs.
THE SOLUTION: As described in my 2018 blog: I reset the pile, and built up the area with builders and polymeric sand. Once all was in place I introduced 4 gallons of HMI SOIL STABILIZER to the entire area including the spaces between the first 5 rows of reset pavers. This was done with two watering cans as I allowed Mother Nature to let the stabilizer soak in. When all dried the entire area; sand, pavers, pile and end of the stringer were welded into a solid coquina stone looking form. Luck had the coloration nearly matching the entire sea wall.
WELCOME DORIAN: Last month, thankfully, Hurricane Dorian did not make land fall in Florida. However, this particularly large and powerful storm slid by to the East of the coast. Hurricane veterans will tell you that in this scenario the power of the NW quadrant of the storm can be the worst. Although it was miles off shore its slow movement had my dock enjoying two tidal surges approaching 4 ft. through 2 tides and nearly 18 hours of winds reaching 65 mph. At higher tides the ramp entrance was under water and for the duration the historically weak area was pounded with relentless waves.
I am pleased to report that upon passing of the storm I was delighted to see the repaired area as it was before the storm arrived. Dock damage was limited to lifted boards, and a broken stringer.
KNOW YOUR FOAMS – HMI’s Soil Stabilizer is but one of many products which can be used to repair Sea Walls. Looking back over history the most frequently read BLOG HMI has ever published was in July 2012 by Jen Mazur, “What You NEED To Know About Concrete Lifting Foams.” Since this blog was published more and new technologies have been introduced not the least of which is an entire HYDROPHOBIC Foam line. To learn more revisit this #1 blog HERE and view HMI foam options HERE.
