(Bloomberg) -- Storm-racked Floridians dealing with power outages and destroyed homes left in Hurricane Milton’s wake have a new problem to contend with: Sewage swirling into floodwaters.
Millions of gallons of raw and partially treated sewage have flowed into streets and rivers as floodwater swamped infrastructure, power failures knocked pumps offline and manholes overflowed due to the storm, which made landfall Wednesday night.
The city of Leesburg’s wastewater treatment plant spilled nearly 2 million gallons of untreated sewage early Thursday after flooding from Milton caused a backup generator to short, according to a filing with the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. Other releases were reported in Bradenton Wednesday as heavy rains from the approaching storm caused a wastewater facility to release into the Manatee River. And in St. Augustine, Florida, the Anastasia Island Wastewater Treatment facility had a spill after heavy rains severed a sewer main.
The sewage spills underscore why the floodwaters will continue to pose a danger to human health even as Milton dissipated over the Atlantic Ocean.
Floodwaters often mix with “with raw human sewage, septic tanks, waste water,” and more, according to Seema Wadhwa, executive director for environmental stewardship for Kaiser Permanente.
Raw sewage can contain pathogens and viruses that can make people sick, and the nitrogen in human waste can also contribute to toxic red tides and algae in places like Florida, said John Rumpler, clean water director for Environment America.
The situation has been made worse because Milton’s flooding comes just two weeks after Hurricane Helene hit the state. Hundreds of spills in Florida were reported following Helene, including an 8.5 million gallon sewage release into the Tampa Bay.
“We know that our waters were pretty much already saturated with waste water, sewage and toxics from Helene,” said Mia McCormick, an official with Environment Florida Research and Policy Center. “When you add to that more, it’s like adding gasoline to the fire.”
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