Hurricane Helene wrecked sewage systems all over Tampa Bay

ST. PETERSBURG — The Minnicks returned to their North East Park home to find their gray floors covered in inches of water, tinged yellow. The smell was undeniable.

"No question, that's sewage water," said Craig Minnick, 54, assessing the damage in his daughter's bedroom.

They had evacuated for Hurricane Helene, so no one was around to flush the toilets or put anything down the drain while the city's northeast sewage plant was shut off late Thursday night. Once home, they couldn't see to the bottom of their tub, filled with brown. Bedskirts, textbooks and clothes were damp with a urine smell. Solid feces was found under an area rug.

Cooper Minnick, 17, was calling friends for changes of clothes and shoes so he could go to work Sunday. "I could've saved my clothes if it didn't have pee and feces on it," he said.

It's not clear if the sewage backups in the Minnicks' home and those of their neighbors are included or would be included in the sewage dumps St. Petersburg reported to the state. The city reported six public spills: Five from the northeast plant, one from the southwest plant, totaling 407,495 gallons of untreated wastewater. That figure doesn't include how many gallons were spilled specifically from the northeast plant. Two spokespersons for St. Petersburg did not respond to requests for comment.

But that wasn't the most reported by a municipality throughout Tampa Bay, where sewage systems were overwhelmed by a historic amount of storm surge from a hurricane 100 miles offshore. Tampa reported discharging 8.5 million gallons of sewage from ten overflows.

Tampa spokesperson Kathlyn Fitzpatrick said each overflow happened along the Hillsborough River and the south Tampa coastline. She said signs were placed in all areas where overflows happened to advise residents not to fish or swim in the area. That water is tested and analyzed until water levels have returned to normal, and then signage is removed. She said all pumping stations were repaired by Friday afternoon.

"We do not expect any long-lasting ramifications on the bay," Fitzpatrick said.

Flooding in the Apollo Beach and Ruskin communities caused damage to wastewater pumping systems in south Hillsborough County. Backup generators limited the damage that would have been caused by loss of power, but some pumps were damaged due to electrical shortages.

"There was 5 to 6 feet of standing water on top of our sewer system," said Lisa Rhea, director of water resources for Hillsborough County. "Electricity and water don't mix."

The systems are located in an Evacuation Zone A. So, "if everybody had evacuated, (the impact) would have been zero," Rhea said. "But we knew people were starting to go back to their homes and starting to return to normal activities. So, we just wanted to caution them."

On Friday, residents who live west of Interstate 75 and south of the Alafia River were asked to minimize wastewater-producing activities such as bathing and showering, washing clothes and dishes and flushing.

"If the pump station is not running for some reason, the water will start building up in the pipes underground," Rhea said. "If there's too much water and the pipes are over full, that's where you get sanitary sewer overflows. And that's when the wastewater comes out of the system and flows out."

The county had one sanitary sewer with an overflow of around 500 gallons, she said, but all went into a stormwater drainage ditch. The systems were repaired and fully operational by Saturday.

Pinellas County on Friday turned off drinking water service to all island customers from John's Pass south to Fort De Soto Park to make repairs to that water system. Residents specifically in St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island and Tierra Verde are urged to use bottled water or boil tap water for cooking, drinking and personal hygiene.

"Pinellas County Utilities has deployed every possible resource to complete repairs to the potable water system on the southern barrier islands following extensive damage from Hurricane Helene," wrote county spokesperson Sydney Criteser in an email. "Hundreds of pipes are damaged, buried in sand and require excavation to locate and repair."

Pinellas County reported four sewage dumps to the state, all in different locations. According to the state's records, it is unknown how much was discharged. Reports show there were overflows from manholes and one lift station into canals and storm drains that go into a retention pond, Intracoastal Waterway, Long Bayou and Klosterman Bayou.

Clearwater had four sewage spills, according to the city's director of public utilities, Rich Gardner. Two were about 1,000 gallons each, a mixture of sewage and storm surge, were discharged into the bay. One had 9,600 gallons, though all but 50 of those gallons were cleaned up with the small remainder seeped into the ground. He said those spills were related to power outages and storm surge.

Gardner said there was one big spill at the city's east plant between 100,000 gallons and a million, though he said 83,000 gallons were recovered. Those gallons were partially treated, completing two of the three phase treatment process. He said none of the wastewater plants were shut off during the storm.

"It's highly unlikely it would have long lasting ramifications to the bay," Gardner said.

The city of Largo reported one spill of 225,000 gallons of untreated sewage. A report to the state said Duke Energy turned power off to the wrong pump while servicing a transformer that sparked during the hurricane. The pump lost power for five minutes, and since tank levels were already high, the pump station overflowed onto a paved surface at the treatment plant and entered into a stormwater pond. It's possible wastewater made its way to the Cross Bayou Canal.

Largo's environmental control supervisor, Stacy English, said water samples collected from a stream from where the stormwater pond discharges showed bacterial levels were higher upstream of the release than downstream.

Gulfport had one discharge of 86,700 gallons of untreated sewage. The report said controllers to lift station pumps failed due to storm surge, causing the collection system to overflow and spill out of a manhole. The city applied lime, washed down the area and raked and disposed debris.

Mayor Sam Henderson said the city does not anticipate any long-term negative effects.

"Unfortunately, a storm of this magnitude can overcome the best preparations," he wrote in a text. "We will continue to monitor our water quality over the next several months as we rebuild."