paulb32
12-23-2010, 01:03 AM
Heard a blip on the news last week. There's a few photo's of the 15ft ledges. Maybe the Lazy River at Boaters has a new route now. Here's a cut from a news story...
The severe winter storms that hit the region Sunday and Monday took out huge chunks of the dunes at the Indiana Dunes State Park, Porter Beach and surrounding areas.
Brandt Baughman, property manager at the state park, said this was the worst damage he had seen in his six years at the park. Waves, estimated as tall as 25 feet, battered the dunes until they eroded, leaving sand cliffs about 6 feet tall in the park, he said.
» Click to enlarge image
A formerly sloping foredune now has a harsh cliff and previously buried wooden stakes are now exposed at Porter Beach in Porter.
(Stephanie Dowell/Post-Tribune)
Baughman said he had reports the waves reached the volleyball nets at the park, which are just 40 feet in front of the pavilion.
The damage stretched west to beach properties in Porter, Ogden Dunes and Dune Acres, Art Elwood, building inspector for the town of Porter, said.
"It was a bad storm," Elwood said. "It was one of the worst."
He said private beach properties saw their dunes destroyed. Before the storm, people could walk down the sloping dunes all the way to the beach with no problem. Now, they have 12- to 15-feet tall sand cliffs in their way. Elwood said the erosion took out about 40 feet of beach from the water's edge to where the cliffs now stand.
The severe winter storms that hit the region Sunday and Monday took out huge chunks of the dunes at the Indiana Dunes State Park, Porter Beach and surrounding areas.
Brandt Baughman, property manager at the state park, said this was the worst damage he had seen in his six years at the park. Waves, estimated as tall as 25 feet, battered the dunes until they eroded, leaving sand cliffs about 6 feet tall in the park, he said.
» Click to enlarge image
A formerly sloping foredune now has a harsh cliff and previously buried wooden stakes are now exposed at Porter Beach in Porter.
(Stephanie Dowell/Post-Tribune)
Baughman said he had reports the waves reached the volleyball nets at the park, which are just 40 feet in front of the pavilion.
The damage stretched west to beach properties in Porter, Ogden Dunes and Dune Acres, Art Elwood, building inspector for the town of Porter, said.
"It was a bad storm," Elwood said. "It was one of the worst."
He said private beach properties saw their dunes destroyed. Before the storm, people could walk down the sloping dunes all the way to the beach with no problem. Now, they have 12- to 15-feet tall sand cliffs in their way. Elwood said the erosion took out about 40 feet of beach from the water's edge to where the cliffs now stand.