Steve Newborn

1 day ago | wusf.org | Steve Newborn

If you live in St. Petersburg, you might have been asked not to flush your toilets during last year's hurricanes. That's because several of the city's wastewater treatment plants were forced to close because of storm surge. So, city officials are ramping up efforts to keep those services working. Mayor Ken Welch stood on an 11-foot-high concrete platform, touting the St. Pete Agile Resilience Plan, or SPAR.

1 day ago | wusf.org | Steve Newborn

If you like a nice green lawn and live in Hernando County, a ban is still in place on fertilizing your lawn in both the summer and winter. County commissioners on Tuesday rejected a motion to overturn the winter ban or change the times of the summer ban, which lasts from June through September. It was put in place to limit the amount of nutrients that leach into waterways from heavy rains. Those nutrients feed an explosion of algae, which kills grasses that much of the marine life depends upon.

3 days ago | wusf.org | Steve Newborn

Hernando County commissioners will hear an ordinance Tuesday that would weaken the summer regulations. This comes after a University of Florida presentation that showed the best time to fertilize turf grass is in the warm growing season. But that's the same time summer rains wash the nitrogen and phosphorus into waterways. Algae growth is turning Florida's springs green and killing seagrass that manatees and other marine life depend on.

6 days ago | wusf.org | Steve Newborn

Douglas Woods todavía chapoteaba entre olas de un metro de altura para llegar a su casa casi una semana después de que el huracán Milton anegara su vecindario de Land O'Lakes. "Me mudé aquí en el '94 y he tenido agua en mi garaje un par de veces, así que esto es, con diferencia, lo peor que he visto", dijo en octubre. "No hay nada con qué compararlo". Su vecindario desciende hacia Cypress Creek.

6 days ago | wusf.org | Steve Newborn

The next time a storm the size of Helene or Milton hits, both Hillsborough County and St. Petersburg will be better prepared — with monster trucks that can save people from rising waters. A.J. Silva of Hillsborough County Fire Rescue climbs into the cab of one of the massive vehicles, called the Sherp. The department's four Ukrainian-designed SHERP trucks were first rolled out 12 hours before Hurricane Milton hit. And they got some use. It has 6-foot-high tires and can float.