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The City of Fernandina Beach reports some of the cliffs are as tall as four to five feet.
FERNANDINA BEACH, Fla. — The higher tides than normal have created a bizarre sight in Fernandina Beach.
City leaders are warning beach goers about sand cliffs left behind from erosion.
In a Facebook post, the city reports the cliffs are as high as four to five feet in some spots, making getting up and down to the water a little tricky.
“Galivanting along and almost came tumbling down that giant wall right there,” said Mackenzie Cardona while vacationing from Georgia.
Cardona plans to do all kinds of sightseeing on a cruise with her family this week.
However, perhaps the most peculiar thing she’ll see on the vacation was during the beach day her family squeezed in at Fernandina Beach.
“It is super high,” said Cardona. “I’ve definitely never seen this before. I’ve never been here before, but I’ve never seen this before.”
Beach Ranger Cathy Collins says the cliffs of Fernandina have been forming for weeks, but got this steep after the high tides the past few days.
She’s gone to work trying to make sure folks like Cardona can get up and down to the water.
“I try to go along and dig out, with a shovel, some places to make it easier to get up and down,” said Collins. “You also don’t want to get caught down on that side when high tide is coming up and have water banging up against you. You want to be able to get up and leave if you have to.”
Collins pointed out the cliffs near Seaside Park happen to be right where beachgoers are allowed to drive on the beach, which complicates things for the rangers.
“It makes the beaches a lot smaller,” said Collins. “Makes it crowded. If we have an emergency, it makes it a lot harder to get to that emergency because they’re backed all the way up to the dunes when we’re really busy.”
Collins says the city has a machine that can smooth it out a bit, but they could also use a little help from mother nature.
“It’s a double-edged sword because we want the water to come up to flatten it out, but we lose more beach, so it’s not good all the way around on that one,” said Collins.
Before she climbs aboard the cruise, Cardona had to climb out of Fernandina Beach.
“I hope,” said Cardona. “We’re going to put my fitness to the test for sure.”
The City of Fernandina Beach posted that crews will get to work trying to level it out when conditions allow.
