That has left some beaches there vulnerable, he said. Seawalls on Fort Myers Beach already have failed. Hurricanes also can damage the beach itself. Much depends, though, on the direction of the storm, its intensity and how quickly it is moving. Hurricane Andrew moved too quickly south of Miami Beach to cause much damage at all, Dean said.
Hurricanes can reshape the landscape altogether.
Dean said a hurricane early in the 20th century was responsible for cutting Redfish Pass in Lee County. In 1988, Tropical Storm Keith blew off the western end of Naples Pier and took away two feet of beach depth from Naples beach, Staiger said. Sand either gets washed over land or washed into offshore sand bars, where wave action can return some of it to the beach, he said. Beach managers in Collier and Lee don't expect problems in coming up with beach repair money. State and federal disaster relief funds traditionally repay close to 90 percent of repair costs.