■ Florida’s governor said crews were working to prevent the collapse of a wastewater pond.

Crews work to prevent potential 20-foot-high wall of water

PALMETTO, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron Desantis said Sunday that crews are working to prevent the collapse of a large wastewater pond in the Tampa Bay area while evacuating the area to avoid a “catastrophic flood.”

Manatee County officials say the latest models show that a breach at the old phosphate plant reservoir has the potential to gush out 340 million gallons of water in a matter of minutes, risking a 20-foot-high wall of water.

“What we are looking at now is trying to prevent and respond to, if need be, a real catastrophic flood situation,” Desantis said at a news conference after flying over the old Piney Point phosphate mine.

Authorities closed off portions of U.S. Highway 41 and ordered evacuations of 316 homes. Some families were in hotels.

A jail 1 mile from the leaky pond is not being evacuated, but officials are moving people and staff to the second story and putting sandbags on the ground floor. Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes said the models show the area could be covered with 1 foot to 5 feet of water, and the second floor is 10 feet above ground.

County officials say there is no threat to Lake Manatee, the area’s primary source of drinking water.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection says the water in the pond is primarily saltwater mixed with wastewater and stormwater. It has elevated levels of phosphorous and nitrogen and is acidic, but not expected to be toxic, the agency says.

Crews have been discharging water since the pond began leaking in March. On Friday, a significant leak that was detected escalated the response and prompted the first evacuations and a declaration of a state of emergency on Saturday. A portion of the containment wall in the reservoir shifted, leading officials to think a collapse could occur at any time.

Hopes said Sunday that with new state resources, crews will nearly double the amount of water being pumped out of the pond and taken to Port Manatee. About 22,000 gallons of water were being discharged per minute, and Hopes said he expects the risk of collapse to decrease by Tuesday.

Early Sunday, officials saw an increase of water leaking out, but Hopes says it seemed to have plateaued.

“Looking at the water that has been removed and the somewhat stability of the current breach, I think the team is much more comfortable today than we were yesterday,” he said. “We are not out of the critical area yet.”

Officials said the federal Environmental Protection Agency is sending a representative to be at the command center in Manatee County.