GALVESTON, Texas — Residents living along Texas beaches have their eyes on Beryl tonight.
Galveston County beaches are still recovering after Tropical Storm Alberto washed away their dunes and emergency officials say this storm could cause even more erosion.
Brad Bruness, the emergency management coordinator for Galveston County tells 12News the coastline serves as a barrier that helps protect homes and businesses. But more and more storms could be more problematic.
"Beryl more than likely is going to bring some more storm surge, strong winds and rain and all that is obviously conducive to some more erosion of the beach line," said Bruness.
Bruness says over the last couple of years Southeast Texas beaches have taken a beating, first from Hurricane Ike and most recently from Alberto.
"Even normal tides over time take a toll on the erosion. But it's just a lot of water and powerful movement at the same time that I think does it," Bruness said.
When a storm enters the gulf tides can come 18 to 20 feet higher than normal washing away sand dunes in their wake.
"Essentially they act as a wall, as a barrier for us. Overtime the wind kind of builds some dunes up," Bruness said.
He says they are working with the General Land Office to monitor the status of the beach line and rebuild the coastline.
"They got the resources and the technical abilities to enact any of their courses of action to preserve the beach line. There's a lot of work in terms of shifting maybe areas where some of the sand has been pushed to," said Bruness.
On Stewart Beach on Galveston Island, Peter Davis, chief of Galveston Island Beach Patrol is watching this storm closely.
"Our first mission is to keep all these people here for 4th of July safe," he said.
But Davis also has to monitor the storm. If Beryl turns more to the north, he's prepared to move equipment.
"We're looking at those tide forecast right now, they're almost to our four-foot threshold, where we move equipment off the beach, I know this is going to change a lot, when we figure out what's going to happen," said Davis.
Bruness says they spent the last six months participating in town halls across the county, preparing residents for a disaster. He says the most important thing is to make a plan, build a kit and stay informed.
Residents of the Galveston COunty area can find more information about hurricane preparation here.