Amanda Massacessi and her family just relocated last year from Miami to an oceanfront home in Satellite Beach.
- Satellite Beach resident fears home will fall after sand washed away
- Brevard beach erosion damage estimated at more than $24M
- Resident says city told her dune replacement is owners' responsibility
The home was ideal, she said, as she and her brother are going to college locally.
But little did they know just months after moving in, powerful Hurricane Matthew would come calling.
"We thought the ocean was going to take my whole house," Amanda Massacessi said Wednesday.
"Before you could just hear the ocean. Now, you can see waves and waves coming," she said of the severely eroded beach in front of her home.
Although the predicted direct hit on the east coast of Florida didn't happen, the impact was bad enough. Hurricane Matthew left its mark on Brevard County beaches, with erosion damage estimated by the county at more than $24 million.
Massacessi and her family fear their house will plummet off a newly formed cliff and into the ocean below.
The huge, 30-foot-tall sand dune protecting the property from the sea is now gone. Rocks that haven't seen the light of day for decades are now exposed.
Their back deck is feet from falling over the side.
Complicating things, Massacessi said, is that City of Satellite Beach staff Tuesday gave a permit to the family to restore the lost sand themselves.
According to the city, it's the property owners' responsibility to replace the dune using a private contractor and then wait for the next beach renourishment project set for next year.
"They are making us take care of it when we shouldn't because we pay taxes," Massacessi said.
For now, the family will deal with the issue as best they can, hoping the erosion doesn't get even worse. Fortunately, the family's home wasn't damaged in the storm.
Matthew destroyed 10 Brevard homes in all and damaged some 1,300 structures as it rolled past the Space Coast, the county said.