St. George Island Turtle Patrol finds new nests after losing more than 100 to tropical storm

FRANKLIN COUNTY, Fla. (WCTV) - The St. George Island Sea Turtle Patrol continues to survey the beach following Tropical Storm Bertha.

This weekend, they shared updated numbers of how many sea turtles they lost due to the storm.

They started the season with 351 turtle nests. 344 of those were logger-head nests and seven were green turtle nests. Nine of them hatched.

Of the remaining nests, 142 were washed away because of the storm and another 72 nests were inundated with water for several days, leaving them with just under 130 nests.

However, the organization is remaining hopeful. They say over the weekend, turtles made ten new nests.

Now, they’re reminding people to turn off exterior lights and close their blinds after dark to help make sure hatchlings safely reach the Gulf.

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