Water-Related News

USF Researcher: Helene was the 'strongest storm' to impact Pinellas' coast in 80 years

Helene brought up to 18 feet of waves at the mouth of Tampa Bay, less than 10 miles from the shoreline. The storm surge also overtopped the Gulf-side seawall by up to 2 feet and bayside seawall by over 4 feet.

Hurricane Helene's storm surge, nearly a month ago, eroded practically all the coastal dunes along Pinellas County's coast, according to University of South Florida researchers.

USF geosciences professor Ping Wang and his students took measurements of the dunes using GPS coordinates to map them.

Wang says Helene was the strongest storm to impact Pinellas in 80 years with storm surge over two feet higher than previously recorded at Clearwater Beach and St. Pete Beach.

Helene brought up to 18 feet of waves at the mouth of Tampa Bay, less than 10 miles from the shoreline. The storm surge also overtopped the Gulf-side seawall by up to two feet and bayside seawall by over four feet. This allowed high waves to break over land, causing sand to wash onto streets and houses, plus structural damage.

These same coastal areas were relatively spared two weeks later by Hurricane Milton. WUSF's Jessica Meszaros spoke to Wang at Madeira Beach about a week after Helene came through.