St. Petersburg’s possible sewage outages, cranes at risk from Hurricane Milton

ST. PETERSBURG — The city of St. Petersburg is still holding back on telling residents if they’ll be able to flush the toilet as Hurricane Milton threatens.

Mayor Ken Welch warned earlier this week that the city may have to shut down two of its three sewer systems if expected high winds and storm surge of 8 to 12 feet become reality.

The city offered a little more guidance Wednesday, but no definitive cutoff time: If wind speeds become too dangerous and storm surge reaches as much as 5, 6 or 7 feet at two of St. Petersburg’s sewage plants, the city will make the call. City officials said they could shut one or both sites down late Wednesday or early Thursday, depending on Milton’s arrival and proximity to St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg’s public works administrator, Claude Tankersley, said at a news conference Wednesday that the plant’s operators at the northeast and southwest plants would be unsafe with that much surge. If the decision is made to shut off a plant, he said there will be a 20- to 30-minute window between when the public is notified and when that plant is powered down.

That would mean that residents in the area served by the plant should not flush toilets, take showers or put anything down the drain. Tankersley said because much of the area is under mandatory evacuation and many have left, there is capacity in the collection system, but that it would be best if residents refrained from flushing.

”Try not to use it at all,” Tankersley said. “But we recognize that there are emergencies, and if you need to, you should be able to do so safely.”

If both plants are shut down, two-thirds of the city would be affected. Tankersley said the city’s third sewage site, the northwest plant, is not facing a potential outage because it is at a higher elevation.

You can see if your home or business would be affected by the sewage outage at this link here.

Mayor Welch said residents should be prepared for water, sewer and electrical service to be offline for days, depending on the damage, with electrical outages for possibly weeks.

”This is not a storm that we will recover from quickly,” he said. “We have a long road ahead of us, but we will recover and we will rebuild together.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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