Dinah Voyles Pulver @DinahVPMatt Bruce @Matt_BruceDBNJ

PAINTERS HILL Four months after Hurricane Matthew pummeled coastal Volusia and Flagler counties, reminders linger nearly everywhere. Nowhere more than on battered local beaches.

Dead trees and bushes stand where the Atlantic Ocean ripped away dunes and rushed into communities and golf courses. Repairs continue on homes flooded by water and sand. Other homes hover on the brink of eroded dunes, at the mercy of the next hurricane or even a strong Noreaster.

Matthew eroded nearly two million cubic feet of sand and dunes in a matter of hours. Estimates pieced together over the past four months indicate repairing that damage replacing just the sand the hurricane eroded, not any previous critical erosioncould cost nearly $50 million.

Another $32 million may be spent to repair and protect State Road A1A north and south of Flagler Beach, not including an already planned federal project.

As many struggle to recover from Matthew's devastation and cope with its continuing economic impact, one question worries many along the coast, especially in Flagler County. Can the battered shoreline the only protection against the powerful ocean be replenished before another storm arrives and compounds the damage?

The next one, if it came similar or worse, (the water) would go clear across the island, said Paul Pershes, president of the Ocean Hammock Property Owners Association in northern Flagler. Theres nothing stopping it.

The storm's wrath

At the peak of Hurricane Matthew on Oct. 7, a storm surge of 5 to 7 feet swept ashore along Flagler County, topped by waves 15 feet or higher, the National Weather Service said. The large breakers ripped out 30 feet of dunes from the shoreline in some locations. In other spots, sand and water were pushed far inland, flooding entire neighborhoods, and overwhelming storm water and septic systems.

In Volusia County, 19.4 miles of beaches were considered critically eroded even before Matthew pummeled the shore, according to a Florida Department of Environmental Protection report last August.

In that same report, very little of Flagler County was considered critically eroded, said County Administrator Craig Coffey. The report listed 4.8 miles in the county. But now?

Theyre re-evaluating it, Coffey said. We lost 1.5 million cubic yards of sand.

Volusia County saw far less damage to its dunes. Some beaches on the south end of the county actually gained enough sand that a November survey estimated an overall net gain of about 240,000 cubic yards south of Ponce Inlet. North of the Inlet, the survey found a net loss of about 359,000 cubic yards of sand.

In the flurry of meetings and tours with state and federal officials since the storm, local officials have learned restoring the dunes will take patience, partnerships between government agencies as well as private property owners. It will also take lots of money. DEP has worked with local governments on a draft hurricane recovery plan and they are refining strategies and cost estimates to complete a final version to be delivered to state legislators.

In Flagler County, coastal neighborhoods north of Beverly Beach are considered at greatest risk from the next hurricane. County Commission Chairman Nate McLaughlin said the public health and safety aspects of the at-risk neighborhoods in the most northern end of the county are the "biggest concern."

When those dunes were breached, the ocean came in and flooded the whole basin, affecting 600 homes, and all of those had septic tanks, McLaughlin said. He also worries about tourism. The beach, he said, is "our No. 1 attraction.

Businesses around Hammock Beach Resort have suffered as a result of the hurricane damage, said Terry Bechtold, the resorts managing director. Many businesses relied on customers staying at the resort, part of which was flooded by surging seas. Resort officials estimate it could do $8-to-$10 million less business in 2017 as a result of Matthew.That also has an unknown impact on tourism bed tax and sales tax collections.

Harder to measure but also of concern for Bechtold is the loss of reputation Flagler County had for being safe from hurricanes.

For prospective businesses and homeowners considering relocating to the area, if the dunes could be replenished and strengthened, it would put investors and prospective property owners at ease, he said. Now there's a vulnerability "that everybody is aware of."

Without the dunes, theres nothing to prevent the ocean from rushing into the community and flooding the homes of more than 2,500 people.

If this werent going to be redone in the next 10 or 15 years, Id seriously consider selling my house, said Pershes, who lives a block from the ocean.

Lingering economic impact from damaged coastal properties also concern Flagler County officials. Nearly a third of the county's tax base is collected from its coastal properties, said Coffey, who has spent much of the past four months coordinating and juggling all the moving pieces of hurricane restoration.

Working with FEMA

Local and state officials are working to pull together money and sand, from state-approved sources, for dune restoration.

Flagler County is scraping money together to match a $5.65 million award for an emergency grant recently announced by Gov. Rick Scott.

Were trying to structure that in a way that our participation is minimized cash-wise, McLaughlin said. They hope, for example, that part of the countys required match could come from money the county already spent, or money that private communities are spending on dune restoration.

Meeting the required matches for federal and state money could delay other projects in the county, such as a new library or a new fire station. McLaughlin said the commission also isconsidering adding a penny to its tourism bed tax to raise the money needed to restore the beach.

Volusia and Flagler counties are relying on possible reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for shoring up the dunes.

The program provides no less than 75 percent of the eligible costs of an accepted restoration project, said FEMA spokesman Phil Wernisch.The counties have met with FEMA and are putting together documentation the agency requires before funding is approved.

The counties contracted with Jacksonville-based Taylor Engineering to help with that documentation. The firm will study images taken before and after the storm to calculate how much sand was lost and propose alternatives and designs for restoration.

Carefully meeting each specific requirement for FEMA is an important part of the process,said Jessica Winterwerp, Volusia Countys coastal division director.If we went ahead and placed sand on the beach we would step over a couple of steps of the FEMA process and they may not approve us.

Looking for money

Counties also are waiting to hear how much money if any state legislators approve during the spring legislative session.

The Governors proposed budget recommends $111 million for beach restoration and renourishment, including $61 million to help communities recover from damages during the 2016 hurricane season. McLaughlin saidFlagler County hopes for $10 million.

The counties also are waiting to hear if the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gets funding for planned projects that would benefit dune restoration.

Flagler County officials hope to move quickly to "sturdy up the dunes" and close breaches that might allow water to flood into surrounding communities.

A few private homeowners already have obtained emergency permits and are doing their own dune restorations in Flagler County. At Hammock Dunes, the property owners association will begin a private restoration starting Monday. The county's Varn Park will be closed to make way for the line of dump trucks hauling sand to the beach.

In Volusia County, which doesnt have the life-threatening dune situation that Flagler County does, the approach is to wait and see what FEMA deems necessary. Winterwerp said some of the sand eroded off Volusia beaches is likely sitting in the ocean just offshore and could work its way back to the beaches this summer.

Volusia County Chair Ed Kelley said he hasnt heard from any constituents asking for beach renourishment.

If you hear anything, its people asking, Why are you going to do renourishment when its just going to wash away again, Kelley said.

Replacing sand on Florida beaches has long been controversial with some critics questioning the high cost and the environmental effects.

But Kelley supports making use of the FEMA grants, he said.I think we need to do what we can to protect the businesses and the homes."

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Battered Beaches: Restoring coastal erosion from Matthew could cost $50 million - Daytona Beach News-Journal