Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Saturday after a significant leak in a wastewater storage pond threatened to cause flooding and collapse a radioactive material storage system.
Authorities in Florida were evacuating homes and a highway near the large reservoir in the area north of Bradenton. The Red Cross was called in to help.
The state department of environmental protection said a breach was detected on Friday in the walls of a 77-acre lake in the old Piney Point phosphate plant.
The lagoon contains millions of liters of water containing phosphorus and nitrogen.
The Tampa Bay Times said the lagoon held about 480 million gallons of wastewater before the company that operates it started discharging part of it at Port Manatee this week. At least 25 million gallons were unloaded early Thursday.
The Piney Point phosphate plant also houses plaster piles, a waste product from the manufacture of fertilizers that are radioactive, containing small amounts of naturally occurring radio and uranium. Batteries can also release large concentrations of radon gas.
The authorities fear that the collapse of the system could expel polluted water, as well as more hazardous material, in the area and in the bay.
State and local crews worked overnight to reinforce the breaches, but residents within a half-mile radius of the lagoon received a text alert saying to leave the area immediately because the collapse of the Piney Point pile was “imminent”.
George Kruse, a commissioner from Manatee County, said he was at the plant on Saturday with other officials and had to clear the area quickly.
“That’s when we determined it was no longer safe to be anywhere near Piney Point, so we all kind of ran out of the piles as fast as we could,” said Kruse in a Facebook video.
The authorities would later explain what they observed, he said.