Photo courtesy of the USACE.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) have begun fixing the damages caused by August’s storm surge on the three breakwaters.

According to the USACE, the Hurricane Marie-driven storm surge caused the breakwaters to have 82 points of damage with the most affected breakwater—the middle—having 50 points of damage alone, including three holes which permitted water to rush through.

Of the 4,125 feet in damage, 1,550 feet consisted of major damage, 850 feet was significant damage and 1,725 feet was considered moderate damage.

Some 30,000 tons of rocks, culled from Catalina Island’s Pebbly Beach, will be used and laid does by a crane to fill in the holes.

A $5M contract—a far cry from the $20M initially estimated to repair the damages—was award on September 18 to Connolly-Pacific Co. by USACE. The Long Beach-based company, which began work on October 8, is set to repair 12 of the most damaged areas of the breakwaters by December of this year.