Mild Ida still caused damage to Alabama beaches

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Tropical Storm Ida was a mild storm along coastal Alabama, but it still caused millions of dollars in damage to the beaches.

Gulf Shores and Orange Beach officials tell the Press-Register that Ida stripped several hundred thousand cubic yards of sand from their manmade shoreline. That could cost about $5 million to repair.

The two beach communities, along with Gulf State Park, spent about $24.2 million in 2005 to strengthen 16 miles of shoreline by dredging about 6 million cubic yards of sand from the sea floor and dumping it on shore.

Subsequent tropical storms and near misses have caused damage. The cost of repair has more than doubled over the last four years, the newspaper reports, and city officials expect a total repair cost of nearly $15 million.