Sewage seeps into streets after pipe break

FORT LAUDERDALE – Sewage flowed onto Fort Lauderdale’s streets early Tuesday, forcing traffic detours at Cordova Road and Southeast 15th Street as crews mopped up the mess from a ruptured 16-inch pipe.

City officials suspect a contractor working in the Rio Vista neighborhood damaged the pipe around 6:15 a.m. And now they’re trying to track down just who ruptured the 18-year-old sewer main.

“We are still trying to trace who was there and who caused it,” Public Works Director Raj Verma said.

Fort Lauderdale officials got an alert after someone spotted sewer

water oozing between pavement cracks, Verma said.

Crews spent most of Tuesday cleaning up the mess and trucking the sewage off to the treatment plant.

Verma says he expects pipe repairs to be completed by the end of the day.

It’s still too soon to say how much sewage spilled onto the streets and into nearby rivers, Verma said.

But this break is not nearly as bad as others that plagued Fort Lauderdale starting in December.

Between Dec. 10 and Feb. 8, Fort Lauderdale’s crumbling sewer pipes spilled 211.6 million gallons of sewage into waterways and streets, a state record that netted Fort Lauderdale a $1.8 million fine in mid-February.

Neighbors near Tuesday’s break should avoid contact with any standing water.

Sewage spilled into the Seminole River, but the city expanded its no-swim advisory to the Cerro Gordo and Carlotta rivers, Verma said.

The precautionary advisory against recreational activities extends from Southeast 13 and 17th streets and from the Intracoastal Waterway west to Cordova Road.

Swimming, fishing, jet skiing, paddleboarding, kayaking, canoeing and other water-related activities should be avoided.

Daily testing will be conducted in the affected waterways, and the precautionary advisory will remain in effect until satisfactory test results are received, Fort Lauderdale spokesman Chaz Adams said.

For more information, call the city’s 24-hour Customer Service Center at 954-828-8000 or go to www.fortlauderdale.gov/ lauderserv.