When Hurricane Idalia churned past the Tampa Bay area in August, a battering storm surge sliced Pinellas County beaches. In the first weeks after the storm, a glimpse of the economic toll was quick to emerge: Idalia had caused tens of millions of dollars in damage to Pinellas coastlines. The county has already signed off on $23.5 million to restore destroyed sand dunes. The environmental toll .
More than 100 spectators and volunteers came to witness the loggerhead turtle nest inventory at Huntington Beach State Park just south of Murrells Inlet Sept. 15.