PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. —Hurricanes Helene and Milton were both record storms—hundred-year events that happened within weeks of each other. Amid the destruction, devastation and loss of life, graduate students at the University of South Florida’s Coastal Research Lab are looking for clues to rebuilding stronger.

The team uses high-tech equipment to measure data that will inform leaders about the destructive nature of future storms.

ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska and photojournalist Reed Moeller went out with the team as they surveyed the damage from the two hurricanes.

Researchers went to the new Midnight Pass to battle the strong currents while collecting flow, passage depth, width and other metrics.

Dr. Ping Wangis an expert in coastal geology and told Paluska, as devastating as these storms have been to the community, his students have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It’s been 100 years since something like this happened. Now you can study it. You might not have studied it in your life?” Paluska said.

“Yes, one of the students can turn this into a thesis, and this gives us a lot of knowledge,” Wang said. “Helene was a 100-year storm in terms of storm surge for the Tampa Bay area. Milton was a 100-year storm in terms of rainfall for Pinellas and Hillsborough counties and a 100-year storm in terms of storm surge for Sarasota County. .”

“Will your research show how vulnerable these barrier islands are?” Paluska said.

“With this research, we want to learn as much as we can so that we can work more effectively with nature, and then try to conquer it,” Wang said. “That’s what we’ve been doing for the last few decades. So looking forward, there will be more for the next generation. The philosophy is to understand this better and work with nature better than our previous efforts.”

Wang said wave action that was 2.5 meters above the high tide caused most of the damage on Bay Area beaches. But, it was a fraction of the surge from Hurricane Ian that devastated Ft. Myers Beach.

“In Hurricane Ian, the surge was about 6 to 8 feet higher than what we have,” Wang said. “That’s why all the buildings you see in Ft. Myers Beach are destroyed.”

Paluska sat down with Libby Royer, a Ph.D. student at the Coastal Research Lab on John’s Pass.

“We’re standing in the middle of the rubble, but there are people’s belongings scattered around us,” Paluska said.

“It’s hard not to get discouraged by that and say, ‘OK, how do we do this?’ But it also pushes us and allows us to feel that way again, like, ‘OK, we can’t feel that way as a community,'” Royer said. “So let’s go back to square one and design our buildings, to design our roads. suppose these situations arise.”

“This is the worst storm we’ve had in a century. This is your business. What do you hope this disaster teaches us to be better?” Paluska said.

“I think it gives us an opportunity to see where our infrastructure is lacking and start designing with nature instead of opposing forces,” Royer said.