Officials in Holden Beach are hoping the oceanfront that hosts tourists in 2009 will be the same as it was last summer before Tropical Storm Hanna hit in early September.

The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reports that Hanna took an estimated 300,000 cubic yards of sand from Holden Beach, and the estimated $9 million it would cost to replace it was the primary reason the federal government will pay for most of the cost to replenish the sand.

Holden Beach town manager David Hewett said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expects to award a contract by the end of this month to dredge parts of the Intracoastal Waterway to help rebuild the east end of its beach..