Hurricane Helene

The St. Petersburg City Council continues to question why some residents' water bills were as much as six times the normal amount following last year's hurricanes.

The beach and other parts of the park were closed after damage from hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Many Pinellas County business owners and workers say they are ready to welcome snowbirds and vacation-seeking visitors. Changes in tourism trends in the state’s coastal playgrounds will be revealed in the coming months and years, especially during peak tourism season.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is borrowing $2 billion to pay National Flood Insurance Program claims. The agency said the two hurricanes as of Feb. 6 had led to more than 78,000 claims, with estimated losses possibly topping $10 billion.

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They include upgrading several water pump stations throughout the city, and putting generators at all the stations while switching to generator power for all the stations right before storms hit.

CEO Joe Handy said the drastic cost-cutting effort comes after last year's storms caused extremely low attendance numbers, which provide "the lion's share" of the aquarium's revenue.

About 40 housing providers set up shop at the Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg to attend the hurricane recovery rental housing fair. The city partnered with the Bay Area Apartment Association to host the public event on Jan. 22.

The city manager gave detailed answers to resident questions at Tuesday’s city commission meeting.

A nine-foot-tall, 500-foot-long AquaFence will soon guard Lift Station 85, a wastewater treatment plant that services St. Petersburg’s downtown waterfront.

The federal farm bill was last updated in 2018. Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson wants state lawmakers to allocate around $50 million to help farmers impacted by the hurricanes.

The county said it is in the "early planning stages" of figuring how to spend the federal money.