Lessons learned from last year's hurricanes that slammed Florida
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. - A year after Hurricane Helene, communities around Tampa Bay are continuing to rebuild.
Beach renourishment is underway along Pinellas County's barrier islands.
"It is a night and day difference from right after the hurricanes, what the beach looked like then to what it looks like now," Ashley Giovannetti, with Pinellas County Communications said.
The backstory:
Hurricane Helene hammered the Pinellas County coastline, causing major damage to more than 10,000 homes and sending several feet of storm surge onto the barrier islands.
Homes across the county flooded, sand from the beaches was pushed into homes and roadways and parts of the county were inaccessible after the storm.
The west coast of Pinellas took the brunt of Helene’s power as the storm headed for a Big Bend landfall.
What they're saying:
"Helene is the strongest storm in terms of storm surge that we've been measuring for the past 75 years," Professor Ping Wang, with the USF School of Geosciences said.
Communities across Tampa Bay faced catastrophic flooding and devastation from Helene.
Wang says the Helene was a rare storm, with extremely high storm surge and wave heights.
"The storm went over the seawall four feet," he said. "I should emphasize it's the landward side of the wall. It's not the seawall that's facing the Gulf with the big waves."
Previous Story: Pinellas towns ‘hammered’ by Hurricane Helene
Wang says Helene was "one of a kind" and very rare.
"I think we did a good job in terms of evacuating. When you have a storm like that, that just went over what we have prepared for in terms of coastal defense," he said.
In Tampa, city officials say Helene and Milton caused a total of more than $700 million in property damage. They say city crews collected enough debris to fill downtown Tampa's "Beer Can" building four times.
City officials say more than 1,500 permits were submitted specifically for storm repairs to homes.
One year since Hurricane Helene
A year after Helene, the mayor of Indian Shores says monumental progress has been made. Pinellas County is finishing up beach renourishment in Indian Shores.
"You had drop offs from the point of entry to get to the water," Mayor Diantha Schear said. "A lot of erosion, a lot of drop-offs, so it was exceedingly important to get this done."
Renourishment efforts continue along the barrier island beaches.
"So, there's going to be active construction on the southern tip of Indian Rocks Beach and Redington Shores, here in the near future," Ashley Giovannetti said. "Also, in mid-October, we'll be starting on Upham Beach and Sunset Beach."
RELATED: Pinellas County barrier islands remain closed after being battered by Hurricane Helene
Schear says Indian Shores is almost entirely back to normal. She says businesses are back open, and almost every building has been repaired.
The county says residents can text, "PCBEACHES" to 888777 for updates on renourishment projects.
Pinellas County is also encouraging residents to submit permit applications if they haven't already. Giovannetti says certain permit fees have been waived.
The county understands that people need to start work on their homes as quickly as possible after the storms, but it's asking anyone who still hasn't filed for a permit to do so now.
The Source: FOX 13's Kylie Jones gathered the information for this story.