220,000 In Fort Lauderdale Urged To Boil Water Through Sunday

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — Nearly a quarter of a million people in Fort Lauderdale and nearby communities were being told to boil their water at least through Sunday morning as city crews came up with a creative solution to restore water to a widespread area that lost service when a 42-inch underground pipe was ruptured by a subcontractor of Florida Power & Light.

Restaurants closed early and the tourist-driven economy took a big hit as the Galleria Mall, Broward County Courthouse and numerous other buildings around the city were forced to shut down. The Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport remained open but indications were that a number of arriving passengers hastily shifted travel plans to visit Miami and other nearby cities instead of the Fort Lauderdale area. See also Fort Lauderdale Open For Business As Water Returns

“I’m very pleased to be able to tell you that a solution, at least a temporary solution, is at hand,” declared Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean J. Trantalis at an early evening press conference.

Water-cooled air conditioners and walk-in coolers for restaurants and hotels also had to be shut down on a day when South Florida temperatures hovered around 90 degrees and felt much warmer.

“We have lost the water supply to the city and to the other cities in our surrounding area that receive water through us,” Trantalis acknowledged earlier in the day.

Even as service was being restored for thousands, officials continued to warn residents that it would take at least 48 hours from the time water was restored until the boil water notice could be lifted, according to city officials. Those two days were to allow testing to be performed. The notice was still in effect as of early Sunday morning.

“It’s imperative that all folks in the affected areas continue to boil water prior to consuming it especially if you are making ice, drinking it, brushing your teeth, washing dishes, food preparation and the like until further notice,” the mayor cautioned. “Otherwise use bottled water.”

But at least air conditioners and walk-in freezers that were affected will be back on line to provide relief from the summer heat. The water main that was ruptured is located along the grounds of the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. It carries millions of gallons of untreated well water each day to the Fiveash Water Treatment Facility.

“We’ll be producing water at Fiveash and then that makes the toilet flush and those kind of things even though you have to boil it for food preparation and for consuming,” added Paul Berg, the city’s director of Public Works. “At least that keeps the sanitary system in place and fire protection systems, chillers — everything else for air conditioning in large facilities and that kind of thing — it will keep those in operation.”

Meanwhile, Trantalis declared a state of local emergency and at least three water stations were set up to distribute bottled water to residents as city offices closed early on Thursday. Those sites will remain open until at least Sunday.

Work crews were able to install a “partial patch” to the hole and then built what the mayor described as a “concrete bunker” around the damaged pipe.

Two of the bottled water distribution sites quickly ran out of supplies though nearly 100,000 bottles had been shipped by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis from the state reserve, which is used during hurricanes and other times of emergency.

The mayor told reporters that city officials planned to seek damages for everyone affected.

“Most of the restaurants shut down in the city and in the adjacent cities. This was not just a minor incident,” he stressed. “This impacted many hundreds of thousands of people and customers. We need to get to the bottom of it.”

The mayor said every restaurant was closed when he tried to go to lunch on Thursday.

“That tells me that all those restaurants were severely impacted economically,” he said.

The following locations were distributing bottled water:

In addition to the city of Fort Lauderdale, other areas affected by the disruption include:

Affected residents may call 954-828-8000 to report any issues resulting from the water disruption.

Click Here: cheap dragons jersey