Posted on October 7, 2024
Just three weeks ago, Pinellas County completed Phase One of its Pass-a-Grille Beach renourishment program, replacing tons of sand that had washed away due to natural erosion. Phase One covered the south end of the beach, from the 3rd Avenue access point to 15th Avenue, with “replacement” sand dredged from nearby inlets.
Mother Nature, it seems, had other ideas. Hurricane Helene barreled past the evening of Sept. 26, and into the next morning, sending more than four feet of churning Gulf of Mexico water across the barrier island and into homes and businesses, causing extensive damage.
Gulf Way, running parallel with the beach itself, was blanketed with several inches – several feet, in places – of wet white sand.
A week after the hurricane passed through, all standing water was long gone, the sun was shining, and residents and business owners were mucking things out and counting their losses.
And the curbs of Beach Way were piled high with sand, bulldozed aside when the roadway was cleared by county crews. Mountains of the white stuff, like snowdrifts alongside New England roads in winter.
So much for renourishment.
Beach sand that’s deposited in areas populated with people often has to get cleaned of oil and other contaminants before it’s re-distributed.
“The sand that went to renourishment wasn’t contaminated. It can go back onto the beach,” said Jennifer McMahon, St. Pete Beach’s Acting Assistant City Manager, who’s been boots-on-the-ground in Pass-a-Grille all week.
However, she added, it might be days before any action is taken, while county and city administrators watch for more storm activity over the gulf.
It wasn’t wind, said Pass-a-Grille Beach resident Lisa Marone; she heard only two or three truly scary-strong gusts. And it didn’t really rain all that much.
Marone, her husband and their 18-year-old daughter live on 5th Avenue, one of the east-west side streets that empties onto Gulf Way.
The damage, she said, was almost entirely from rising waters. “They said it was going to be a storm surge like (last year’s) Hurricane Idalia. And we had nothing in Idalia.”
The family, and their neighbors, like to joke that they live on “Mount 5th Avenue,” because it seems to be at a slightly higher elevation than neighboring streets. “We never got any significant flooding,” she said.
This time, “we didn’t even take our cars off the island; we parked them at the end of our street, by the bay side.”
Helene’s effect on the temperate Gulf of Mexico waters, however, was so strong that the channel on the east side of Pass-a-Grille – what locals call the bay side – began to rise, rush and flood too.
As the water rose on the first floor of their home, the Marones stacked paint cans under their sofa legs, and prayed the fabric wouldn’t get affected (it didn’t, but just barely). They grabbed everything valuable and/or fragile – including the cats – and went upstairs.
“I got very concerned while I was looking out the window around midnight,” Marone said. “I was watching this rushing water in the street. It was like white water rafting – a raging river.
“It was a battle between the gulf and the bay. It was like a trainwreck – you couldn’t take your eyes off of it.”
Just as she began to fear that the house would be lifted off its foundation, and rush away in the torrent, she heard a distant gurgling sound, and realized the saltwater was receding.
Next morning, Marone walked to the end of 5th Avenue and found all three of the family cars buried up to the tops of their wheel wells in sand.
After several days without electricity or water, Pass-a-Grille came alive again. And so began damage assessment and cleanup.
Several business owners have reported total losses, telling friends they couldn’t imagine how they’d ever re-open. Calls have been made to insurance adjustors and FEMA.
“There are hurdles for some people,” McMahon explained, “because they don’t own the buildings, they rent, and that’s a whole different type of insurance. But certain businesses say they’re going to come back, and stronger.”
Outside Paradise Sweets, 709 Gulf Way.
Most of Pass-a-Grille’s small hotels and inns are offering discounted rates during this process. “I’m placing people that have been displaced by the storm,” explained Coconut Inn owner Maggie LeBlanc, whose seven second-floor rooms suffered no damage.
“They can’t stay in their homes, or there’s family coming to help them. Any reservation that I get, I contact them to make sure that it’s somebody that’s been displaced because there’s such a high need there right now.”
Moving forward, said McMahon, is a complex business. “There are a lot of historical properties on Pass-a-Grille, so we’re working with historical organizations to help guide us in that process.
“And yes, we haven’t gotten there yet, but we’re going to start doing some permitting for people starting on Monday in our community development department.
“First and foremost, we’ve got to get rid of the debris. We’ve got to clear the streets. And then it’s re-build, and getting businesses re-opened. And it’s going to be a long process.”
