Nearly 11 months after Hurricane Matthew, work to repair St. Johns County dunes continues

With Hurricane Harvey expected to bring catastrophic damage to Texas, the battered coast of Northeast Florida is still showing signs of Hurricane Matthew nearly 11 months later.

Many families in coastal St. Johns County say they're more prepared for a major storm than ever.

“[Hurricane Matthew] ate 50 feet of dune back toward A1A,” said James Chambless of South Ponte Vedra Beach.

Chambless credits his sea wall with why he only had damage to his back stairs.

“My neighbor did not have a sea wall,” Chambless said. “You can tell that since the hurricane, he has one put in, as [did] his neighbors to the north of that.”

All along our coast, work continues to repair the dunes.

“While they haven't finished the work, it's still in progress, and they've got sea walls in now, so we're pretty well protected,” Chambless said.

Friday, St. Johns County couldn't provide an update on the projects through its public works department, but did set us up with Emergency Management Director Linda Stoughton.

“[Hurricane Matthew] certainly did large-scale damage to our coastline with the beaches,” Stoughton said.

Stoughton said overall, Matthew did more than $120 million in damage to St. Johns County.

Cox Media Group