TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. — Treasure Island’s annual holiday boat parade is still on for Friday night despite major erosion along the beach caused during last weekend’s storm.

The parade was canceled last weekend and is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday.

What You Need To Know

  • Treasure Island's annual boat parade rescheduled for tonight at 6 p.m.

  • Parade was canceled last weekend due to inclement weather 

  • Last weekend's storm washed away a significant portion of the sand dune system just re-built by Pinellas County 

  • The sand dune system extends from Sand Key in Clearwater to Pass-a-Grille in St. Petersburg 

Pinellas County is still surveying the beach erosion from last weekend but officials said a basic visual inspection shows a loss of between 40-50% of sand from the dunes where rebuilding had just been completed.

That restoration had been going on for the past three months.

The dune system that extends from Sand Key in Clearwater to Pass-a-Grille in St. Petersburg is meant as a barrier to protect coastal properties from flooding in the event of storms.

Although the restored dune system is being credited with saving properties from damage, most of the dune system was heavily damaged, which means protection from future storms has been compromised.

The county is still waiting for federal funding for a broader beach nourishment project.

In the meantime, Pinellas County Public Works Director Kelli Hammer-Levi said the county is evaluating the dunes segment by segment to determine how to fix them.

“We are going to be evaluating that survey data,” Hammer-Levi said. “And we are going to look at you know, you see the drop-off, that’s called an escarpment, and what we need to do to stabilize that.   

“In some areas, there may be a need to add more sand and then re-grade. There may be some, we kind of shave it off a little bit so it’s not so steep.”

If there is any good news, it’s that hurricane season is more than five months away, giving the county time to build back the dunes that were damaged.