JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It’s been 227 days since Hurricane Matthew delivered a beating to Northeast Florida's coasts, leaving a wake of damage from the river to the beach, and we now have an estimate on how much damage it caused in Duval County.
News4Jax obtained an audit, requested from the city of Jacksonville, that shows a total of $53.5 million in hurricane repairs need to be made to city property and assets. That includes everything from the Jacksonville Beach pier to police and fire stations.
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DOCUMENT: Full Hurricane Matthew audit for Jacksonville
City leaders said nearly $6.7 million to cover the repair costs will come from the general fund. The rest should be disbursed by the state and federal governments.
The single biggest expense is fixing the Jacksonville Beach pier, which could cost up to $6.9 million to replace.
Beach renourishment is also underway. Dune restoration, which will cost nearly $5 million to complete, has already begun.
And along the river, the city is replacing and repairing numerous docks and bulkheads, including ones at at the Landing and County Road Dock in Mandarin.
“Hopefully, something will get done by the end of the year,” City Councilman Matt Schellenberg said. “And that means we get the money, we get the design, we get the bidding, and something gets started.”
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Schellenberg, who represents Mandarin, said the city is waiting on funding from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which are supposed to pay for the majority of the hurricane fixes.
“It is money to be disbursed for these kind of catastrophes, and let's get it going,” Schellenberg said.
While it's important to repair the docks and bulkheads, advocates with the not-for-profit St. Johns Riverkeeper said there's much more that needs to be done.
“I think there is more to the story than what is on the list,” St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman said. “We still have outstanding issues with marine debris that resulted from the storm.”
IMAGES: Hurricane Matthew's wake of damage | Hurricane damage at County Dock |
Hurricane Matthew aftermath
Rinaman said the government was only able to clean up half the debris in the river before running out of money. She’s also concerned about more sewage leaks. Millions of gallons of raw sewage spilled into Northeast Florida waterways during the hurricane.
“Right now, more needs to be done to fortify the sewer systems to keep the sewage out of our waterways,” Rinaman said.
There's no word yet on when or just how much FEMA will pay the city for hurricane repairs.