PALMETTO, Fla. ― Around 2 a.m. Monday, an infrared drone “identified what could be a second breach” in the plastic lining surrounding a reservoir at the former Piney Point phosphate plant, Manatee County officials said Monday.
Jake Saur, director of Manatee County public safety, appeared with Congressman Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., and other officials to update the threatening situation. He said the Army Corps of Engineers and other specialists are on site trying to assess the findings of the drone.
He said they have four major lines and smaller pumps moving water out of the site. Evacuation orders remain in place.
Buchanan said he took a helicopter tour of the area and was committed to getting the right resources on this problem.
“To see the reality of (it) is very concerning to me,” he said. “To see the water spewing out it looked very contaminated to me.”
The congressman emphasized the need to “bring all the resources we can” and said those plans were in motion.
“I am concerned about the threat to public safety, homes, as well as businesses and, of course, marine life,” Buchanan said. “I really hate to see what’s happened.”
“When I see water flowing into Tampa Bay, it makes me sick about it.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was on site for a tour Sunday and he and county officials laid out their plan to prevent the 77-acre wastewater pond from total collapse after a plastic lining is believed to have torn last week. The reservoir sits among phosphogypsum stacks — high berms made of a substance monitored for its radioactivity.
Acting Manatee County administrator Scott Hopes and others suggested that extreme measures were working to pump out the water before an uncontrolled collapse. More resources are expected to come in from across the country.
In addition to ordering the evacuation of residents in the surrounding areas of the plant, Manatee County Sheriff’s officials evacuated about 345 inmates from the county jail’s first floor. The Manatee County Central Jail is in the northwest corner of the evacuation zone.
