MADEIRA BEACH, Fla. — For the last few months, Pinellas County invested millions of dollars, about $25-$30 million to be more specific, into restoring sand dunes. But when Hurricane Idalia hit, the rain, storm surge, and king tide were a perfect recipe for disaster.
The storm stripped Pinellas County beaches bare. Much of the beach and the dunes washed away along beaches that were already desperately overdue for beach renourishment.
The county remains in a stalemate with the Army Corps of Engineers for beach renourishment work to be done. The Army Corps changed its requirements for the project, now making 100% compliance in perpetual property easements mandatory for the project to move forward.
With beaches in such a vulnerable position, the county decided to restore the dunes, separated from the beach renourishment project, after Idalia.
The sand is the first line of defense when a storm makes landfall. The more sand and dunes, the less flooding inland communities see.
For many who just recovered from Idalia, once again, their homes got flooded.
"We purchased a new fridge and a new dishwasher," Art Meneian, a Madeira Beach resident, said.
With several inches of flood waters in his home again, that fridge and dishwasher are now both broken. In his driveway, his Toyota Camry sits, with every door open, airing out after water filled it.
"The water was up to the top of the rim," he said.
Before the waters crept into Meneian's home, that water slammed the coastline.
"Once is bad, [but] twice in four months is just unreal," Pinellas County Public Works Director Kelli Hammer Levy said.
Literal tons of sand have been hauled into Pinellas County beaches to rebuild the dunes and plant vegetation in them. Much of which is now lost.
"Especially from like Bellaire Beach down through Indian Rocks Beach, we had lost maybe up to a half of the dunes in those areas," Hammer Levy said.
It's too soon to know just how much this storm cost the county. Assessments and survey work are being completed now.
"I'd say about 12 and a half to $13 million, where the work was washed away," Hammer Levy estimated.
That's about half of what the entire dune restoration project costs.
County officials ask if you see a beach access point that is blocked or with workers clearing it, don’t try to walk through or around it. Find a beach access point that is open and easily passable.
The contractor is planning to continue hauling sand in, as scheduled, to Indian Shores. Dune repair work will pause for the Christmas holiday and resume on Jan. 2.
Malique Rankin is a general assignment reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. You can email her story ideas at mrankin@10tampabay.com and follow her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages.