City of St. Petersburg, FL

10/09/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/09/2024 11:16

City Prepares for Major Hurricane Impacts from Milton

City of St. Petersburg Prepares for Major Hurricane Impacts from Milton

October 9, 2024 - As Hurricane Milton approaches St. Pete, the City of St. Petersburg continues to monitor the storm and encourages residents to make final preparations.

Situation Update:

  • Hurricane Milton is quickly approaching our state as a category 4 storm, and is expected to make landfall just south of the Tampa Bay area.
  • St. Pete may experience up to 8-12 feet of storm surge and hurricane force winds. Impacts from Milton are anticipated in the next few hours.

Bridge Closures

  • The Skyway Bridge is now CLOSED to all traffic.
  • The Howard Frankland Bridge is now CLOSED to all traffic.
  • Westbound Gandy Bridge is now CLOSED to all traffic.
  • Westbound Courtney Campbell is now CLOSED to all traffic.

Evacuation:

  • If you have not evacuated yet, you are quickly running out of time and need to get to a safe place immediately.

  • Whether that's a shelter or a friend's house, now is the time to figure out where you will shelter as the storm passes.

  • When significant sustained winds arrive, our first responders will not be able to respond to calls for help until after the storm moves through the area.

Shelters:

  • The County has opened additional shelters in St. Pete at New Heights Elementary School and Fairmount Park Elementary School. Please check disater.pinellas.gov for most updated list of shelters and their occupancy.

  • Shelters will not turn you away and are open for you to have a safe place to be during the storm.

  • If you need assistance getting to a shelter, please call the County Information Center at 727-464-4333.

  • Please use the resources available to you, it could save your life.

Important Information for Residents:

Sewer Treatment Facilities:

  • Anticipated storm surge levels could necessitate the shutdown of the Northeast and Southwest Sewer Treatment Facilities. If the facilities are shut down, residents may be unable to use plumbing, including toilets, showers, and laundry.

  • Restoration of these services could take more than 24 hours post-storm, depending on the severity of impacts.

  • Note, there is no set time when this might occur. Our teams will be watching the winds and the storm surge closely, which influences our decision to evacuate staff and power down facilities. We will make a call closer to the storm's landfall.

  • Check which sewer treatment plant serves your home or business, here: https://csp.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d6d372efa98b44df87a2f9be6272a81e

  • The City does not have plans to preemptively shut down drinking water, but we may need to take the wastewater facilities offline depending on the level of storm surge and related damage.

Stay informed:

Visit stpete.org/hurricane for more.