Boil water advisories are still in place for 20 Florida counties days after Hurricane Helene ravaged the state.
Helene made landfall last Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of around 140 mph near the city of Perry in the state’s Big Bend region. The storm then moved northward, trekking through Georgia and bringing fatalities across several Southern and Southeastern states, with storm surge, devastating winds and torrential rain that threatened several dams and inundated Asheville, North Carolina, with floodwaters. More than 100 people were killed by the storm, the Associated Press reported.
Four days after the storm passed through Florida, boil water advisories remain in place for the following counties, according to Florida Health:
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Alachua County: Gator Waterworks Water System
Charlotte County: Shell Creek Park, Bocilla Utilities Inc.
Citrus County: Citrus Waterworks FKA Backwater Heights, Ellsworth Point, Crystal River North Station
Clay County: St. Johns Landing Apartment
Columbia County: Cannon Creek MHP, Lake City Campground, Cool Breeze MHP, Castle Hill Academy
Dixie County: Horseshoe Beach WTP
Duval County: Belle Oaks WTP
Hillsborough County: Valrico Hills Trailer Park, HCS/Cork Elementary School, Sunburst RV Park-Tampa East, Hawaiian Isles MHP, CAX-Lakeshore LLC, Riverside MHP, Spanish Main Travel Resort, Tampa East RV Resort, Oakwood CT Apartments, Bay Hills Village Condo Association, CELM/Aldermans Ford Park, Oaks Meadows Rentals
Lake County: Wekiva Falls Resort, Water Oaks Country Club Estates
Lee County: Useppa Island Club
Leon County: Lake Talquin Waterworks, North Lake Meadow Water System
Levy County: Otter Creek, FIMC Hideaway Inc., Yankeetown WTP
Madison County: Madison Water Department.
Manatee County: Town of Longboat Key
Marion County: Marie’s MHP, Ocala Garden Apartments, Dunnellon High/Elementary School
Nassau County: Green Acres of Yulee
Pasco County: Glendale Villas/LOL Village Apartments
Pinellas County: Pinellas County Utilities
Putnam County: Hermits Cove Water System, Port Buena Vista, St. John’s River Club Utilities
Sumter County: The Woods Utility Company, Jumper Creek Utility Company
According to the list, thousands of customers are still required to boil their water. Most of the warnings were issued on Friday or Saturday. Newsweek reached out to Florida Health by email for comment.
During a boil water advisory, residents should avoid using tap water for consumption unless it is brought to a rolling boil. Natural disasters such as hurricanes can cause power outages, service line breaks, and flooding, which can cause microbial contamination in the water supply, all of which require residents to boil water in order to safely consume it.
Millions of people remain without power from the storm. The most widespread outages are reported in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In Florida, nearly 95,000 people remained without power.
