GUEST COLUMN: Fish Island a disaster waiting to happen (SAR)

GUEST COLUMN: Fish Island a disaster waiting to happen



By Jon D. Hodgin / Anastasia Island
Posted Sep 23, 2018 at 2:01 AM
Watching the destruction in North Carolina from Hurricane Florence (Category 2 at landfall), I am reminded of Hurricane Katrina (a Category 5) which struck the Gulf Coast in August 2005 with extremely high winds and a massive storm surge, collapsing the twin-span Interstate 10 bridge into Lake Pontchartrain. The I-10 bridge was not fully restored until six years later in 2011.

The Saffir-Simpson Scale of hurricane wind speed also addresses storm surge. It states that Category 4 and Category 5 tropical cyclones may have a storm surge of 18 feet or more.

Here in St. Augustine, we have had major damage and flooding from hurricanes Matthew and Irma. Neither of these storms was a direct hit on this area, with Matthew a weak Category 3 downgraded to a Category 2 passing off the East Coast and Irma, a weak Category 1, passing well west of the city.

Even so, the storm surge during these two hurricanes flooded the bayfront, flooded Davis Shores, destroyed docks up and down the Matanzas River, moved the Salt Run pier out of alignment and caused major damage to the city marina.

The D.R. Horton development plan for Fish Island includes a marina dock with 75 boat slips stretching 800 feet in length along the shore of the Matanzas River just South of the State Road 312 bridge.

I am not an engineer, but I do have two eyes and a brain. If we receive a Category 4 or 5 tropical cyclone here with a storm surge of 18 feet or more, and if the D.R. Horton marina dock fails and is partially or completely destroyed, then I believe we could expect many tons of D.R. Horton concrete to be piled up against and underneath the 312 bridge. This will close the bridge indefinitely and block a major evacuation route off of Anastasia Island, creating a significant hazard to our community.

This is only one of the many reasons that this D.R. Horton development plan for Fish Island should be stopped.