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Pinellas beaches fill up fast, reach ‘unprecedented levels of closures’

As people head out to enjoy the warm weather, beaches in Pinellas County are filling up fast.
 
Sunset Beach at Treasure Island on Saturday morning.
Sunset Beach at Treasure Island on Saturday morning. [ Megan Reeves ]
Published May 23, 2020|Updated May 24, 2020

Planning a beach trip to start your Memorial Day weekend today? They’re filling up fast, according to the dashboards set up by Pinelllas County, which you can access here.

Related: Read the full story here: Memorial Day weekend plus a pandemic equals busy beaches in Pinellas

In fact, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Offfice sent out a tweet just after 1 p.m. saying: “If you’re not on the beaches yet, get an earlier start tomorrow.”

The situation at each beach will be fluid throughout the day, but as of about 1:45 p.m. Saturday, some of the access points on Clearwater Beach and Sand Key were full and closed, as were the beaches at Fort De Soto, Indian Rocks Beach and Gandy Beach.

Various beaches on Treasure Island, Madeira Beach and St. Pete Beach were full and closed or getting close to it.

Honeymoon Island State Park also was full and closed.

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