The acting head of New Jersey's environmental protection department says the state will repair some of the beaches hardest-hit by a string of February storms that caused severe erosion and created 18-to-20-foot drop-offs at numerous beach access points.

Shawn LaTourette tells The Associated Press the agency will eliminate dangerous conditions at beaches including Bay Head, where precipitous drop-offs have led the town to place emergency barriers on top of the dunes to prevent people from falling off the edge.

The state asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to carry out emergency repairs, but the federal agency said the storms were not bad enough to warrant such assistance.