could pump sand to renourish the downdrift beach. A regular dredging schedule 

 would minimize the interruption of littoral drift by the jetties/inlet and the 

 accumulation of sediment at the updrift side. A deposition basin was dredged to 

 provide a 2-year supply of sediment, an estimated volume of 300,000 cu yd. 



Between April and June 1969, a few 7 months after completion of the jetties, a 

 100-ft section of the weir collapsed. The collapse caused a deep trough to be 

 scoured away through the breach. As a temporary remedy, 67,000 cu yd of sand 

 was pumped from the deposition basin onto the jetty. This sand temporarily 

 blocked the entire weir; however, all the sediment had eroded by March the 

 following year. The weir was permanently repaired in September 1970. Since 

 its construction, the deposition basin was dredged only twice, in 1970 and 1972. 

 Differing opinions as to the source of the sediment filling the basin and the 

 direction of longshore drift caused the end of maintenance dredging of the 

 deposition basin. In addition, at this time, concern grew over the continuing 

 erosion of Norriego Point and the western tip of Moreno Point. Popular opinion 

 held that the weir allowed large waves to pass through and erode the point. 

 Under pressure by local interests, the US ACE recommended weir closure in its 

 1983 Reconnaissance Report, East Pass Channel, Destin, Florida (Mobile 

 District 1983). In 1985, the USACE permanently closed the weir by covering it 

 with a rubble-mound trunk section identical to that placed on the rest of the jetty. 



By April 1977, erosion of the East Pass eastern shoreline (Norriego Point) 

 required immediate attention. A report on shoreline improvement and dune 

 stabilization was submitted to the USACE South Atlantic Division Engineer. 

 This report recommended the construction of a groin field consisting of six 

 structures located at the northern end of Norriego Point (Mobile District 1977). 

 It claimed that wind-generated waves traveling through the mouth of the inlet 

 caused the most severe erosion along the point. The authors specifically did not 

 identify the weir as playing a role in the erosion. This recommendation was 

 rejected. However, the continued easterly channel migration had eroded the 

 eastern shoreline to a point where the east jetty was in danger of being flanked. 

 General inlet maintenance occurred in 1977 with the construction of a 300-ft 

 rubble-mound spur that attached at a right angle to the landward end of the east 

 jetty. The purpose of the spur was to divert flow away from the landward 

 terminus of the jetty. By the 1980s, scour holes had formed at the tip of the spur 

 as well as at the tip of the west jetty (Lillycrop and Hughes 1993). Until 1993, 

 maintenance of the spur jetty had been limited to the placement of dredge 

 material, riprap stone, and concrete rubble in the scour hole. More extensive 

 repairs were completed in 1994. 



On 4 October 1995, Hurricane Opal made landfall at 1700 Central Daylight 

 Time. The eye of this Category III (at landfall) hurricane passed near the town of 

 Mary Ester located approximately 12 miles west of East Pass. Opal generated 

 winds with gusts in excess of 150 mph and produced a storm surge reaching 

 14.6 ft above mlw. Following the storm, the USACE deployed their Scanning 

 Hydrographic Operational Airborne Laser System (SHOALS) to assess Opal's 

 damage at East Pass. Morang, Irish, and Pope (1996) separated storm damage 

 into two categories: subaerial changes caused by the storm surge during the 

 height of the storm, and subaqueous changes caused by the draining of the 

 flooded Choctawhatchee Bav. 



Chapter 1 Background and Problem Statement 



