In 2011, Hurricane Irene’s wrath jeopardized the integrity of our beaches washing over the dunes in several locations. Our worst fears were realized in less than a year when Super Storm Sandy in 2012 again devastated our beaches, decimated our dunes and caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to homes and infrastructure. It took eight years for the FIMI Project to reach fruition. If we had not had the Seashore Defense Fund available, it would have been impossible to immediately launch the beach recovery efforts and take vital short-term emergency actions to protect the Pines, like TrapBags®, sand fencing and sea grass until the project was completed. 

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Since Sandy, in 2023 we experienced two major storms combined with multiple nor’easters that damaged and threatened our beach reclamation. One thing we do know is that extreme weather is happening on a much more frequent cycle.  One hundred-year storms are happening every five to ten years.  We cannot afford to be financially incapable of responding to the next crisis that places our community's very existence at risk.