St. Petersburg Pumping Sewage into Bay as Tropical Storm Colin Flooding Continues

Ada Carr
Published: June 8,2016

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Flooding from Tropical Storm Colin is quite literally making a mess of the Tampa Bay area.
St. Petersburg officials told the Associated Press the city will be pumping partially treated sewage into the bay after rainwater infiltrated leaky sewer pipes and overloaded the system.
Public Works Administrator Claude Tankersley said the sewage will be pumped by pipe about a quarter of a mile into the bay, and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has been notified of the discharge.
Without knowing how much more rain would fall, Tankersley said he couldn't estimate how many more gallons would need to be dumped.
"Who knows?" he told the Tampa Bay Times. "I really have no way of guessing."
A mobile park home in Clearwater, Florida, was left underwater Tuesday by flooding caused by Tropical Storm Colin. The storm made landfall in Florida Monday night, prompting Gov. Rick Scott to declare a state of emergency for more than half the counties in the Sunshine State.
"Colin dumped locally more than 10 inches of rain near the Tallahassee area Monday," said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. "The storm is now on the move and impacts from the storm will diminish through Tuesday."
Tuesday the Mariners Cove mobile park home in Clearwater was submerged under 4 feet of water, according to ABC Action News. The community had to be evacuated.
Fire crews and officials with the Largo Police Department assisted 30 people to safety, while 20 chose to stay behind, ABC also reports.
(FORECAST: Tropical Storm Colin Heading Through Florida)

Heavy rain from the storm reached Brunswick, Georgia, hindering the U.S. Coast Guard's search for a couple that went missing Sunday after a weekend boating trip, according to the Associated Press. Despite the downpour, the crews continued looking.
Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer 1st Class Stephen Lehmann said Tuesday that crews are optimistic about finding 59-year-old Raymond Hutchins and his 61-year-old wife Laura Hutchins alive. The couple launched a pontoon boat Sunday near Brunswick. Search crews found the boat with the engine running and the couple's dog still aboard and unharmed.
Tampa International Airport saw 29 delays and 2 cancellations Tuesday due to conditions caused by Colin. Monday the air terminal saw 85 delays and 19 cancellations.
Duke Energy reported in a news release that some 7,600 customers in Florida are still without power as of Tuesday. Crews worked through Monday night to restore power to more than 85,000 of its 1.7 million customers and have now relocated to the areas with the highest number of outages, particularly Pinellas County.

A motorist drives down a flooded street in St. Petersburg, Fla., after Tropical Storm Colin dumped heavy rains over the Tampa Bay area Tuesday, June 7, 2016.
(James Borchuck/The Tampa Bay Times via AP)

In an interview Tuesday, Scott said there were no reports of major damage, but the state will be tracking flooding.
Monday the governor said the state's Emergency Operations Center was elevated to activation status level 2, “The level two activation at the State Emergency Operations Center will help state and local emergency management officials work together to ensure our state is ready to respond to any impacts of this weather event.”

Flood warnings were issued in many parts of the Tampa Bay area Tuesday and commuting became difficult as roads were underwater and closed off completely in some areas, AP reports.

(MORE: Officials Identify Soldiers Killed in Texas Flooding)

Schools and summer programs were disrupted by the storm. Many students were dismissed early Monday and two high school graduations in the Tampa Bay area had to be postponed, AP also reports.

The Skyway Bridge was closed to all vehicles Monday as winds gusted up to 52 mph, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.  Tampa Electric reported nearly 8,300 customers (98.8 percent of all customers) were without power at one point Monday afternoon.
Further south, KC-135s from the 6th Air Mobility Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa were evacuated to Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire Monday morning, and the base closed its Bayshore Boulevard gate Monday afternoon.

Florida Highway Patrol vehicles block access to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which was closed to all traffic Monday morning due to high winds.
(Florida Highway Patrol)

Franklin County, which historically floods, issued a voluntary evacuation notice for anyone in low-lying areas or anyone in RVs in the county.The National Weather Service reported a house fire in Hardee County was sparked by downed power lines knocked over by falling trees Monday afternoon. Strong winds also ripped the roof off a mobile home in Bradenton.
Colin dumped heavy rain along North Carolina's Outer Banks as it moved away from the southeastern coast Tuesday. Schools in Wilmington were delayed two hours due to the weather and Duke Energy reported a handful of customers were without service in eastern North Carolina, according to AP.