Panama City Beaches Summary & Conclusions

• As of May 2002, the shoreline exceeds the Corps of Engineers design standard at all but two locations within the Federal project area (R-5 to R-91), where the average beach width is 110.1 ft.  The average beach width throughout the entire project area (R-1 to R-91) is 107.5 ft.  The project has shown moderate levels of erosion since construction.
• The project area has retained 93% of the as-built fill within the Federal project limits and accreted 131,000 cy of sand since the May 1999 survey.
• The Panama City beaches are historically accretional until they are impacted by large storms.   During construction, Hurricanes Earl and Georges moved sand offshore.  Some of the accretion currently being measured may be attributed to sand being transported back into the nearshore region, as the beach completes its natural recovery.
• While the central reaches have been stable since construction, there are apparent hotspots at the two ends of the project area.  These areas should be closely monitored as the current trends indicate a renourishment timing by 2005.

• The Army Corps of Engineers' Panama City Harbor and East Pass Dredging Project placed approximately 120,000 cy of material between Ranges 88 and 91 in late 2002.  This fill stabilized the east end of the project area.
• The entire project area contains 84% of the as-built construction volume.
• The beach is performing well, but the shoreline is predicted to reach the design standard in several locations by 2006.  The raw data suggests that Corps design standard is currently violated at R-84, R-85, and R-86.  Several other locations are predicted to be near the Corps design standard width in 2006, most at the west end of the project area.  Hurricane Ivan, which struck the project area after the monitoring survey, has lead to conditions for immediate renourishment of the project area.

• This report describes the 2004 storm (Hurricane Ivan) losses experienced along Panama City Beach shoreline within the 1998-1999 beach nourishment project area.
• The average shoreline location in Panama City Beach changed by an average of -22.4 feet from pre to post storm.  The eastern and western ends of the project area experienced larger average shoreline retreat than the central region of the project area.
• Survey comparisons show significant alteration of the cross shore profile.  At nearly every profile line the longshore bar feature was sheared off at the base.  Much of the volume of sand associated with this bar feature is now located offshore of its previous location.  Significant volume was deposited below the GRR depth of closure of -20 feet NGVD, in some cases beyond the -40 foot depth contour.
• Volumetric comparison of pre and post storm surveys between R-1 and R-91 show gross volumetric losses of 2.5 million cy above -20 foot NGVD.