Berm Construction Begins on Silver Strand

A bulldozer shoveled countless piles of sand on Saturday, fortifying Oxnard’s Silver Strand Beach with a six-block-long berm to protect seaside homes against the upcoming high tide season, as well as from waters heightened by El Nino.

The tides are already inching to as close as 2 feet from the concrete patio of Bill Edwards’ two-story Ocean Drive beach home. And Channel Islands Harbor officials say the peak of the high-tide season is expected to begin this week and last through mid-December.

“I’m nervous,” Edwards said. “We’re losing sand pretty consistently now. What’s it going to be like when El Nino hits?. . . . It’s pretty scary.”

But he said he “feels much better” knowing the county has started its winter preparation tactics.

Saturday marked the first phase of berm construction: 2-foot-high sand ledges were created from the 1500 to the 2100 block of Ocean Drive. And harbor officials plan to launch a second phase, with longer and larger berms, by Dec. 15 for Silver Strand Beach and possibly Hollywood Beach.

Berms are created by dragging mounds of sand--usually near homes--and padding lower areas on the beach to create hill-like slopes, said Channel Islands Harbor Master Jack Peveler. That way, the seawater will be blocked by a steep incline and roll back into the ocean without flowing over the berm and wrecking any property, he said.

“It’s like we’re building a speed bump for the waves,” said Keiron Ryan, the bulldozer driver for Gold Coast Sand Moving.

Although the high-tide season occurs every year, Peveler said this is the first time since 1983--the last El Nino--that the county has built berms in this manner.

“We don’t move sand every year,” he said. “But because of the conditions of the waves, it’s critical.”

No property was damaged during the storms 14 years ago, though the streets were flooded, Peveler said.

The news that his home has a good chance of being protected reassured Edwards, who spent much of the day watching the bulldozer scoop sand from his backyard to create strong ledge-like blockades.

“I’m glad the county is working on this,” he said, adding that he invited county Supervisor John Flynn--who helped kick off the first berm phase--to look at the tides from his balcony earlier Saturday morning.

“He [Flynn] seemed genuinely interested and concerned that everything will be correct,” Edwards said.

Edwards also said he appreciates the fliers county employees have posted in his neighborhood, informing residents that berm construction would be going on this weekend and again in December.

“I like that they’re communicating with us,” he said.