St. Pete Beach faces ‘catastrophic’ sewage system failures after Milton

Residents of St. Pete Beach could be forced to limit their water usage for more than a week while the city gets the sewage system back up and running after Hurricane Milton.

“We have absolutely catastrophic failures with our main pump station and several lift stations,” Mayor Adrian Petrila said in a video message posted to Facebook.

Right now, the city is hoping to bring in generators to get at least some of the pumps working. But this is just a temporary measure, Petrila said. It could take between a week and 10 days to get everything repaired.

In the meantime, he urged residents not to flush toilets, do dishes, wash laundry or shower to avoid overloading the system, which is already “at a complete standstill.”

He said the county would decide today whether to shut off the water supply completely.

“None of this is fun,” he said. “We all wish we could fix all of this overnight. ... I’m not going to sugarcoat it for you, it will take time.”

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