ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A popular Pinellas Beach is opening just in time for spring break.

Fort De Soto Park’s North Beach is now back open to the public.

The stretch of white sand along the shore had to be closed for four months after damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton last fall. 

“The amount of debris that showed up on the beach was really unfathomable,” said Park Manager David Harshbarger. “Milton came through and, really, kind of buried some of that stuff out on the beach. So it wasn’t as easy as just picking things up. We had to actually scrape back some of the sand, dig deeper. We didn’t want kids playing out there six months from and finding a board full of nails or anything like that.”

Harshbarger has been working as the park manager for five years. He says the damage seen last fall was the most destructive in a while.

“Some of our tree canopy, the general public will notice, is either missing or starting to go,” he said. “Salt inundation has wreaked some havoc over the last couple of years. But these two storms were unprecedented compared to what we’ve seen before.”

While some Florida beaches, after an event like a hurricane, require sand to be brought in, North Beach did not. Meaning all the white sand is native.

“Anywhere we could, we did as minimal of soil disturbance as possible,” Harshbarger said. “This is a natural barrier island. That’s our goal, that’s our mission, is to provide as natural of a habitat as possible. So we really didn’t want to overwork our beaches.”

There are some areas around the park still requiring work. Such as the barriers near the fishing pier.

“All of those projects are in process, but those are things that don’t happen quickly,” Harshbarger said. “We still have to ask for a little more patience as we continue to move forward, but we are certainly working to get all of these amenities back up and running.”