By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune Published: August 06, 2012 Updated: August 06, 2012 - 11:06 AM

The amount of sand that Tropical Storm Debby washed away from three Pinellas County beaches 630,000 cubic yards would fill more than 100,000 dump trucks or 3,316 backyard pools, beach-watchers say.

But, of course, it didn't really disappear. It just was repositioned in nearby offshore sand bars.

While some officials say it would cost $25 million to replenish the shoreline in St. Pete Beach, Sand Key and Treasure Island, others maintain Mother Nature will do the job for a lot cheaper. It just might take a little longer.

Visitors to the area appear unconcerned. There's still plenty of beach to go around, locals say, plenty of space to spread blankets and coolers. The sunset remains unobstructed.

Geologists at the University of South Florida made measurements before and after the tropical storm, which swept the Pinellas Coast for three days at the end of June, and determined that some parts of the shore lost more sand than others.

Pinellas County officials are applying for emergency funds to restore the beaches. When the storm hit, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers already was working on widening the beach on Sand Key, which involved pumping 1.25 million cubic yards of sand from the bottom 12 miles out.

The cost of that project: $31.5 million.

Bill Smith of Indian Shores is a director with the Florida Shore & Beach Preservation Association, based in Tallahassee. He said the erosion from Tropical Storm Debby was second only to the 1985 erosion caused by Hurricane Elena.

Elena sat out in the Gulf and voraciously swept the sand away from Pinellas beaches. "It ate away so much sand one timeshare building on Belleair Beach had its pool destroyed; the foundation just fell away," Smith said.

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Nature could replenish beaches