Park manager shows ‘catastrophic’ damage to Ft. DeSoto Park, details recovery efforts

2024-11-16T10:12:00Z

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – Several parks and beaches in Pinellas County are still closed, more than a month after Hurricane Milton. State and local leaders are expected to update on the recovery process, on Friday.

David Harshbarger, park manager at Fort DeSoto Park said the damage is worse than he expected.

“We’ve had flooding issues, but nothing like this where every structure went underwater, every infrastructure piece was underwater,” Harshbarger said.

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Harshbarger showed 8 On Your Side storm impacts from Helene and Milton.

“Helen did most of that damage with the surge. Milton followed it up a week and a half later with lots of damage,” Harshbarger said.

At the campgrounds, trees are toppled on buildings, electrical outlets are unusable and more than 200 picnic tables washed away or have to be replaced. Crews have cleared most of the debris. It’s stacked in huge piles on the side of the road, awaiting removal.

“We are certainly on the schedule, that’s part of the issue of getting open. You drive through those neighborhoods on the beaches and there’s still trash, there’s still debris. The park is important, but we have to make sure our community is in good shape as well,” Harshbarger said.

At the beach, some of the seawall is blown, boardwalks are water-damaged and Harshbarger is worried about buried debris.

“We are going to have to come in and rake some portions of the beach because of how much Milton buried. We can’t have a kid out building a sandcastle and find a rusty nail down in the sand,” Harshbarger said.

According to the park manager, it could take up to a year before some areas of the park are accessible to the public. “The second we can get some people safely into the park. We’ll get them to any area we can,” Harshbarger said.

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