The white sand beach squeaking under their bare feet drew these campus lemmings. Warm sun burned their white shoulders, while friends back home struggled in snow and ice to get to classrooms. Now, in late summer, about 70 percent of accommodations in some areas are habitable. They are today's archaeological dig. Last summer's storms reached out with vicious winds but only raked Panama City Beach with a glancing blow.
Residents remember the storm surge.
Half of the 18,000 hotel, condo and apartment rooms for tourists were damaged. The most vibrant industry along the 18 miles of Panama City Beach today is construction, most of it repair. The noise of hammers, saws and backhoes is constant. It's strange to look at the ground floor of a condominium or high-rise hotel and see placid Gulf waves lap the shore through glassless doors and windows. Any buildings reachable by the storm surge is always fair game for destruction.