HISTORY OF LOCAL SEAWALLS

The majority of waterfront properties on the west coast of Florida were developed during the 1950's and 60's. The seawalls used to contain these large developments were concrete and on the most part the same basic design. (As can be seen below).

Some developers paid extra for better designed seawalls, but on the most part developers chose the least expensive seawall design.  The reason for this was to stay competitive with their competition.  The less expensive seawalls were expected to last 20 to 30 years. In most cases they have exceeded their designed structural life span.

Since the late 1970's large amounts of seawalls have failed in Pinellas County.  Most of the failures were caused by heavy rain fall, tropical storms, hurricanes, and high winds have also played a part in the failures, but for the most part, rainfall seems to do the most damage.

The weight from the heavy rainfall has caused many seawall failures. It should be noted that as years proceed and the seawalls age and deteriorate, that it has been taking less amounts of rainfall to cause a seawall to collapse.  In some cases, over watering has been the culprit.

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