As Hermine — now a tropical storm again — clears Florida, officials in dozens of counties are assessing the damage the then-Category 1 hurricane caused, even in areas far from the storm's direct path.
In Pinellas County, where dangerous bands tore through around 6 p.m. Thursday and 3 a.m. Friday, officials are grappling with property damage, felled trees and, of course, the impact of volumes of floodwaters inundating an aging wastewater system.
“While we prepared as much as we could for this storm, quite candidly, this is one of the worst that we've seen in the city in a long time. And unfortunately, it's not over yet,” said St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman at a Friday morning press conference. “We've lost a lot of trees, power lines are down, homes are threatened by floodwaters and our infrastructure is clearly stressed right now.”
He warned that the city isn't quite in the clear yet and urged residents to stay safe — to not drive unless absolutely necessary and to avoid floodwaters, which may contain snakes, alligators and even downed power lines.
Kriseman confirmed that the city had to again release sewage into coastal waterways as a result of intense rainfall, though he said he did not know how much.
“We know it's been millions of gallons but we don't have that figure yet. I think you're going to find that it's been across the entire region, where all of us, all of our systems have been completely overwhelmed by this storm," he said.
On Wednesday — when the storm was churning well out in the gulf — storms caused water levels at treatment facilities in the city to go up an average of nine inches. And that was before the brunt of it.
“We certainly have utilized all of the additional capacity we have added, but given the quantity of the rain that we've had, it certainly wasn't enough. We did everything we could to drain our tanks to get ready for this, to inject everything that we could inject down, and do everything we could to minimize having to discharge, but with the quantity and volume of the rain, there was nothing we could do," Kriseman said. "Our main concern has always been trying to make sure that we don't have sewage flowing down our streets, and more importantly, backing up and going into our residents' homes. Overall, it hasn't been perfect, but we've done a pretty good job.”
St. Pete's geography — being nearly surrounded by water and quite low-lying — combined with sea-level rise, increasing frequency of large storm events and aging infrastructure make for an alarming scenario for officials, who are grappling with how to make up for decades of ignoring the need to upgrade the tools it uses to reduce the impacts of flooding.
“This state — quite frankly — has not invested, this country, has not invested in infrastructure," Kriseman said. "And it's really time that both Tallahassee and Washington step up and recognize that the country's infrastructure is aging and it needs to be replaced and repaired.”
As for the city, he said, $58 million is earmarked for short-term storm water infrastructure improvements, and the city is also commissioning a study to help determine its long-term infrastructure needs.
Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch noted on Facebook how the damage — from a Cat 1 storm that actually made landfall 200 miles away — highlights the desperate need for better infrastructure before a head-on hit from an even bigger storm.
"I'm concerned about this ongoing issue for the county and cities. Clearly the environment has changed — as has the capacity of our infrastructure to handle more powerful and frequently occurring rain events, IMO. Hermine was a Cat 1 Hurricane 200 miles [away], and even as a Tropical Storm caused flooding and sewer issues," Welch wrote. "I've suggested applying $1 million of our BP funds toward assessing and strengthening our infrastructure (though much more will be needed)."
This article appears in Sep 1-8, 2016.