florida beach rebuilding hurricanes sand.

The white sandy beaches along a swath of Florida’s Gulf Coast were battered by three hurricanes last year, leading to a multimillion-dollar effort to repair a coastline that is the region’s economic engine. Crews are working with dredges, trucks and pipelines along the 35-mile stretch of beach in Pinellas County that includes cities such as Clearwater Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, Belleair Beach and Redington Beach. It’s a prime tourist destination that is still recovering from hurricanes Helene, Milton and Debby. In past years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers played a major role in beach restoration, but not this time. So Pinellas County is spending more than $125 million in tourism tax revenue to cover the costs.