Pinellas County pushes for renourishment projects along beaches impacted by hurricanes

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Local and state leaders are working nonstop to restore beaches in Pinellas County.

"We've seen storm after storm after storm completely eroded and sucked many, many miles of beach off our beaches here in Pinellas County," Florida State Sen. Nick DiCeglie said.

Local beachgoers said seeing the beaches impacted by back-to-back hurricanes is tough to see.

"It's pretty heartbreaking, especially seeing a lot of places that have been here since my mom was a kid in the 60s and 70s have been destroyed," Kadi Dannemiller said.

To many, Tampa Bay's beaches are unrecognizable after Hurricanes Milton and Helene.

"I remember when I was a kid, I would come to the beach, and there would be bigger dunes, a lot of mangroves, and a lot of flora going on," Dannemiller said.

Since Hurricane Idalia, Pinellas County has been working with the Army Corps of Engineers to re-nourish beaches, but they've run into some issues as the Army Corps of Engineers now requires 100% property easements before starting any work. That has caused a stand-still on other renourishment projects.

"The impacts were far worse than they should have been had these burns been constructed the way they were supposed to be," Chief Resilience Officer Wesley Brooks said.

Following the devastation of the past two hurricanes, local and state leaders are working with the federal government to bypass the easement requirement and other steps that could delay projects.

"We are also in the process of designing a project ourselves and have submitted emergency permit requests to the Army Corpse regulatory office for review," said Kelli Levy, the Pinellas County public works director.

Pinellas County leaders said the Army Corps of Engineers estimates there's $130 million in damage along the beaches.

"This is an opportunity for the federal government, specifically the Army Corps, to step up and shine in a way they haven't to date," State Rep. Linda Chaney said.

Pamela Seefeld's house was flooded during Hurricane Helene. She said the sooner the renourishment projects happen, the better.

"It's a very sad situation. I'm really looking forward to putting my walls back and getting my life back together again," Seefeld said.

Dannemiller's old job also flooded, and she hopes the businesses left on the beach are protected going forward.

"If you want to keep building, you have to balance it out and build the dunes back up, the mangroves and put everything back where it was," Dannemiller said.