The mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is asking for help after hundreds of millions of gallons of toxic sewage spilled into the streets of his city over the past two months.
Mayor Dean Trantalis met with officials from state and federal agencies on Tuesday to seek help with the cleanup of sewage and the needed repairs to the city’s sewage system, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. Roughly 211 million gallons of sewage has seeped out of cracks in the city’s network of pipes.
“Considering the extent of this pollution, we should be more than eligible for state and federal assistance,” he said. “We cannot suffer this burden alone.”
The toxic sewage has polluted some of the city’s parks and waterways, killing almost all the life in each affected area.
Local fisherman Jeff Maggio said that “all the fish are dead” in George English Park since a sewage pipe burst in the park’s lake on Jan. 30, spilling 79.3 million gallons over a 10-day period.
“Everything’s just gone — crabs, oysters, barnacles, and plankton. Crews have been out there picking up hundreds of fish out of the water so it doesn’t look like holy hell. Manatees are swimming in that poison,” Maggio said.
On Feb. 8, the city suffered its ninth water main break since the start of December, prompting city health officials to issue a notice advising that residents boil their water before drinking or using it to brush their teeth or cook.
Six pipe breaks in December left rivers tainted, streets full of sludge, and even some homes barely habitable from the smell alone. In the worst cases, the toxic sewage flooded houses’ bottom floors.
