Rehoboth Beach Patrol Capt. Kent Buckson reported 32 spinal/back injuries this year, all requiring a backboard with ambulance transportation. Buckson also reported 12 dislocations and 34 bone injuries – including broken bones – most also requiring an ambulance. Finally, there were 276 wound injuries such as cuts, lacerations, scrapes or punctures.

For three years, injuries appeared to be on the decline, but the last two years show that trend has reversed. Buckson said he believes the high number of injuries is a result of stones deposited on the beach during the 2005 replenishment.

“From then till now, we’ve had a dramatic increase in back injuries, cuts and scrapes, dislocations and broken bones,” he said. “It’s my opinion, the rocks that are lying in the impact zone are resulting in injuries.”

Buckson said before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pumped sand on the beach to widen it and create dunes, the beach was more gradual and the waves would break farther out. Now, the beach drops off sharply as swimmers walk into the water. The steepness also causes incoming waves to jack up suddenly and slam into the beach.

“The waves are pile-driving people down onto the beach and onto the rocks, wreaking havoc with their bodies,” he said. “I really don’t see the problem going away until the rocks go away, because the rocks are prohibiting the sand in that impact zone to create a more gradual slope out into the water.”

Because the rocks deny a gradual slope, a deep trough has been created, Buckson said.

“It’s just like being slammed into the pavement. People are being injured. It’s dangerous,” he said.

That danger forced the beach patrol to keep people out of the water several times over the summer.

“We had to keep people out of that area because it was too dangerous, and the waves were too strong,” Buckson said.

The deep trough is also a problem for people trying to get out of the water to avoid big waves.

“After replenishment, you have this sudden drop-off that is rather deep and saturated with a large amount of rocks. It’s so deep it’s almost like trying to run up a hill to get out of the ocean. Before, you could just run right out,” Buckson said. “People who are turning their backs on the waves are not going to make it because they are not quick enough.”

“I can’t tell you how many people had broken noses, scraped-up foreheads or shins or the side of their faces. All because they were being annihilated by these waves,” he said.

Buckson called for a collaborative effort between the city of Rehoboth, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) to solve the problems.

He said two things are necessary. First, remove the rocks whenever possible. Second, whenever the next replenishment comes around, use sand without stones.

“In my opinion, for the future development of the beach, the majority of rocks have to go. Any opportunity there is, we need to scoop rocks off the beach or out of the shoreline, whether it takes six months or a year or two years. Eventually, we’ll start to win that battle,” Buckson said.

“Nobody anticipated this. It’s something no one was aware of. But as captain of the beach patrol, I’m letting everyone know it’s a problem.”

Fixing the beach

Tony Pratt, program administrator for DNREC’s Shoreline and Waterway Division, said there are no plans to get the rocks off the beach this winter. Pratt said DNREC is collecting data on the stones and will take action once the results are known. He said, to his knowledge, DNREC is not looking into the injuries.

“There is no easy or affordable way to rid the zone of that gravel,” he said. “There’s just so much of it. Can we get it out of there? I don’t know.”

This past spring, DNREC crews removed some stones from the waterline and put them in a deep trough near the Boardwalk, Pratt said.

“We were impressed with the quantity of it, but two weeks later it was just as bad as it had been before,” he said.

Pratt said coastal towns would continue to receive federal funds for beach replenishment in the 2010 federal budget. Rehoboth and Dewey Beach have been appropriated $965,000, as have Bethany Beach and South Bethany. He said the state would seek more funds in the 2011 budget, which would take effect Oct. 1, 2010.

Sarah Rivette, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said the corps would look for another borrow site for sand to be used in the next replenishment, scheduled for the summer of 2011, pending congressional funding approval. She said the corps would use the same sand used in Dewey Beach’s replenishment, which was smaller-grain sand.

Rehoboth Mayor Sam Cooper said he has talked to both Pratt and Buckson regarding the stones, but he isn’t sure what can be done to fix the problem. Cooper said Pratt told him the stones were moving northward up the beach. He also said no one is to blame for the stones on the beach, but Cooper was also surprised they did not show up in sand samples from the ocean before the replenishment was done.

“There’s not a lot that can be done, short of a mammoth construction project,” he said. “It’s not something I like, but absent an affordable solution, I don’t know what to do about it.”

Buckson said, “I don’t want people to be afraid to come to Rehoboth. Ninety-five percent of the people who come are having an enjoyable experience. But there are people who are getting banged up because of the rocks. I don’t think it’s a city of Rehoboth problem. It’s a bigger problem. Five years have gone by. We need to take time when we can remove the rocks. We have to find out the best way to do it, and we need to remove them.”

Laura Ritter contributed to this story.