FEMA to Pay $119,000 to Replenish Beaches

City officials got an unexpected surprise recently from the federal government: the repayment of $119,000 for 19,000 cubic yards of sand washed away by the fierce winter storms of January 1995.

The city has been trying to replenish badly eroded beaches for years, waging a mostly unsuccessful battle with state and federal agencies for funding.

When Dan Dorsey, a former Seal Beach lifeguard who works as an assistant to the city manager, first suggested applying to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for disaster relief funds, he was not encouraged. “Most of the people I talked to told me the government would never fund something like this,” he said.

But the city had spent about $185,000 just two months before the record-breaking rains 16 months ago to purchase and transport 15,000 cubic yards of sand to the badly eroded beach on the southeast side of the pier. Since cities routinely apply for disaster relief funds for other kinds of storm damage, Dorsey figured it was worth trying.

A study by the city’s consulting engineers determined that all of the new sand, plus an additional 4,000 cubic yards, was washed away by the storms.

After filing a claim last July, a federal engineering team surveyed the beach and verified the loss, albeit for a lesser amount.

The federal agency typically funds about 75% of the loss determined, Dorsey said. With additional claims made by the city for uprooted trees, debris removal and storm drain repair, FEMA agreed to pay $140,000.

Dorsey said the city should receive the funds within three months, most of which will be used to purchase new sand.

Mayor Marilyn Bruce Hastings said that the loss of the new sand was regrettable but that it shielded oceanfront homes from high waves. “It was devastating to lose it,” she said, “but I hate to think of what would have happened without it.”