We want to report out to everyone how relatively well Summerplace got through the scare of Hurricane Dorian, primarily for those who are not here. We got extremely lucky with the storm center staying about 100 miles off shore and sending us only some tropical storm winds and about 3 to 4 inches of rain. No major limbs or trees came down and it doesn’t appear from driving around the neighborhood that any homes sustained damage. Other than a lot of palm fronds down, there is not nearly as much yard debris as we have seen on other storms. The roads are clear.
All of Summerplace and about 3400 customers on the Barrier Island lost power for only a short time, 30 minutes to 90 minutes depending on which line you were on, the evening of Tuesday Sept. 3. A transformer blew out on road 510 near the West end of Shell Lane. Repair crews were on site within 10 minutes. They repaired it in the rain and wind. Great job by FPL.
The beach and the crossovers to the beach were hardest hit with high surf and surges. We lost 3 to 4 feet of sand along the seawall and there is no beach to walk on except at extreme low tide and not much then. Two of the crossovers, Pebble Path and Shell Lane, are damaged enough to be unsafe to use. We didn’t lose the structures but some of the posts on the low end appear to have been undermined by the sand loss and the lower stairs have shifted and buckled. The Barefoot crossover has some of the same shifting at the bottom but not as dramatic and has no breakage. It is stable and useable currently. It is also the only crossover where one can step off onto the beach. The others have a 2 to 3 foot drop to the sand. We removed all the crossover aluminum hand railings prior to hurricane so we wouldn’t have to have them remade if we lost the stairs. They will go back on the Barefoot stairs shortly. The others will be kept off until the other crossovers are repaired.
We have put caution tape up to keep folks from using the damaged crossovers. As soon as the tides recede and we can access the beach safely we will get contractors out to bid on the repairs. We are waiting for information from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as to whether they will allow us to do the repairs now or have to wait until after the turtle nesting season, which ends in November.
It is hard to imagine what our neighborhood would be like today if Dorian had hit us like it did the Bahamas. We have a lot to be thankful for.
The SIA Board of Directors