TAMPA, Fla. — The emergency dune replacement project along Treasure Island is complete and the beaches are reopened. The welcome signs were a welcomed sight for people like Sarah Atcadi.

What You Need To Know

  • Hurricane Idalia responsible for dune erosion

  • Beaches along Treasure Island closed for more than a month

  • Dune replacement was not apart of beach renourishment project 

“I usually go to Indian Rocks," she said, “and that was impacted a lot, but that was impacted a lot by Idalia too. But it looks great now over here.”

What took Hurricane Idalia just a few hours to wash away took crews more than a month to replace.

“After Idalia all the sand was gone," said Treasure Island spokesman Jason Beisel, “Our wooden walkways were pretty damaged. Most of them were taken out and all this sand was gone and pushed back into the parking lot, pushed back into the neighborhood or just taken back out to the water.

"So we had no dune system left here until the county came in and decided to rebuild the dunes.”

Before the emergency dune replacement project started last month, Spectrum News talked with James Jannetides, whose beachside pool was left exposed to the elements after the six foot dune that surrounded it was washed away.

Saturday, all the sand, fire pit and all are back in place surrounding his pool. Although he wasn’t in town to see the finished project, beachgoers we talked with were glad to see the beach reopened for more reasons that just their own recreation.

“So that we can preserve the beach for not just us,” said Samantha Beane, “but I guess the sea life too. That’s the most important is the sea life.”