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By Kate Payne

The Associated Press

BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. 鈥� When a hurricane sets its sights on Florida,聽storm-weary residents聽may think of catastrophic wind, hammering rain and dangerous storm surge. Mounds of sand swallowing their homes? Not so much.

That鈥檚 the reality for some after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton clobbered聽Florida鈥檚 Gulf Coast聽with back-to-back hits in less than two weeks.聽Storm surge聽as high as 10 feet swept mountains of sand into communities 鈥� in some areas, 5 feet tall or higher.

The fine, white sand helps make Florida鈥檚 beaches among the best in the world. But the powerful storms have turned the precious commodity into a costly nuisance, with sand creating literal barriers to recovery as homeowners and municipalities dig their way out.

鈥淚鈥檝e never seen sand like this,鈥� said Scott Bennett, a contractor who has worked in storm recovery since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. 鈥淲ind, rain, water, but never sand.鈥�

The morning after聽Hurricane Milton聽crashed ashore, the roads of Bradenton Beach, about a one-hour drive south of Tampa, were lined with sandbanks a couple of feet high, surrounding some bungalows. The views of the Old Florida beach town were not unlike those after a blustery Midwestern blizzard.

鈥淭he best way to describe it, it鈥檚 like getting 4 to 6 feet of snow up north,鈥� said Jeremi Roberts, a member of the State Emergency Response Team surveying the damage that day.

Another hour south, Ron and Jean Dyer said the storms blew about 3 feet of sand up against their condo building on Venice Island.

鈥淭he beach just moved over everything,鈥� Ron Dyer said.

Dozens of volunteers armed with shovels and wheelbarrows needed two days to dig all the sand out of the condo鈥檚 pool after聽Hurricane Helene,聽only to see Hurricane Milton fill it again, he said.

鈥淭hey just kept digging and wheeling and digging and wheeling. 鈥� They were there for two days doing that,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e got to do it all over again.鈥�

Storm recovery contractor Larry West estimates that his team will perform about $300,000 worth of work just to clean up all the sand and debris left behind at one of the condo buildings he鈥檚 restoring in Manasota Key, about 35 miles south of Sarasota. He expects many property owners, especially those who don鈥檛 have flood insurance, will have to pay out of pocket for such cleanup.

鈥淭he poor homeowner who鈥檚 going to have to spend $150,000 cleaning up, that鈥檚 going to hurt them hard,鈥� he said.

After hearing that a local park that Charlotte County officials designated as a drop-off site was filling up with sand, West said he isn鈥檛 sure where to take the stuff he collects. According to the county, two sites remain open for dropping off sand.

鈥淩ight now, I鈥檓 building mountains in their parking area,鈥� West said of the condo complex he鈥檚 restoring. 鈥淲e鈥檙e just kind of waiting to find out if they鈥檙e gonna have us transport it to a different location.鈥�

Officials in hard-hit Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, are still crunching the numbers on just how big of a bite Helene and Milton took out of the coastline there, but county Public Works director Kelli Hammer Levy puts the current estimate at 1 million cubic yards of sand lost.

鈥淎 lot of volume has been lost, and that鈥檚 our main concern here right now,鈥� she told the county鈥檚 Tourism Development Council. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to kind of stay positive with some of this stuff. I know the pictures are not what we want to see.鈥�

For perspective, a 2018 beach renourishment project to shore up the county鈥檚 coastline with 1.3 million cubic yards of sand cost more than $50 million, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Levy is hopeful that much of the displaced sand can be repurposed. Pinellas County officials are encouraging residents to cart their sand right back onto the beach 鈥� as long as it鈥檚 clean.

鈥淎gain, we just need to remove debris,鈥� Levy said. 鈥淚鈥檝e seen some piles out there with kitchen cabinets in it. We鈥檙e going to have a problem if we have a lot of that stuff out there.鈥�

The county has also opened a drop-off location where residents can leave sand for workers to screen and clean, or dispose of if it’s contaminated, under guidance from the state鈥檚 Department of Environmental Protection.

In the meantime, Florida residents are continuing to dig out of the storm-driven sand, many of them by hand.

鈥淓very shovelful is heavy,鈥� West said. 鈥淭his is horrendous, as far as the cleanup.鈥�

Editor鈥檚 note: Associated Press visual journalists Rebecca Blackwell and Ty O鈥橬eil contributed to this report.