VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — Cars are sinking on Volusia County beaches. Extremely soft sand is forming pits all over Daytona and New Smyrna beaches causing big problems for drivers.
Beach Patrol officers dealt with it all day Thursday, acting as a towing service more than a lifeguard service. There were ruts so deep in the sand that cars were bottoming out.
Rooster tails of sand shot out from tires that were going nowhere Thursday on Daytona Beach. Drivers just sat there, stuck, waiting for Beach Patrol to dig them out with shovels or tow them out with a rope.
Weeks of above-average temperatures, little rain and low tides have dried out the beach, loosened up packed sand and ruined the driving surface.
"I panicked, he told me to reverse," Irish visitor Pamela Currie said.
"And did it work?" WFTV reporter Jason Allen asked.
"Nope," she replied.
Less than 100 yards into Currie's first-ever drive onto sand, the Irish tourist found herself stuck.
"And then we realize car's not four-wheel drive. It's only two-wheel drive," she said. "Two guys came and helped us."
Even with cars stuck all over the place, WFTV watched drivers who just drove right into the same problem spot.
So many people were sinking that Beach Patrol made the decision to just close down a one-block stretch of beach. They put up signs to stop the flow of traffic north of Seabreeze Boulevard.
Officers weren't turning a blind eye to people who ignored the signs. A woman in a truck drove right around the signs, right into the soft sand and ended up with a $164 ticket for the decision.
There were more spots WFTV saw south of International Speedway, down into Daytona Beach Shores, and it could be this way for the last two weeks of the summer season.
Officers said, when it's this bad, the only fix is a storm that sends waves over most of the beach and packs sand back down again.
WFTV
