Janelle Irwin Taylor
The city of St. Petersburg has declared a state of emergency ahead of Tropical Storm Helene, giving Mayor Ken Welch expanded authority to issue special orders to ensure public safety.
Along with the state of emergency, the city is closing its facilities on Wednesday and Thursday, including Sunken Gardens and all city buildings.
All Parks and Recreation programming not involving child care is closing as of 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The St. Pete Pier will close at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Independent restaurants in the Pier district are subject to their own closure decisions, so patrons should check with the businesses about whether locations are open.
For residents whose trash is collected on Thursdays, pickup will be moved for both trash and recycling to Saturday, Sept. 28. The city is asking that residents with city trash or recycle bins secure them safely.
Brush sites will be open Wednesday — residents may use them to dispose of any yard debris as part of their storm preparations — but will be closed on Thursday.
A Code Enforcement Board meeting scheduled for Wednesday has been canceled. All City Council and Committee meetings scheduled for Thursday have been canceled.
Barring changes in conditions, the city plans to resume business as usual on Friday. Updates will be regularly provided on the city’s social media channels, including Facebook and X.
The city has partially activated its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) for Tuesday, and will be fully activated on Wednesday and Thursday.
City staff are deploying pump stations to Riviera Bay and Shore Acres and stationing generators to help with drainage. Staff are also working with local contractors to secure cranes at job sites.
Street sweepers are collecting debris such as pine needles in low-lying areas to assist with drainage to mitigate flooding. That includes in Coquina Key, Sunset Drive, Twin Brooks, Shore Acres and Riviera Bay.
Sandbag pickup operations are open until 7 p.m. Tuesday and will be open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Wednesday, or as weather permits.
Full-service locations are available at the Lake Maggiore Park Shelter Area located at 3601 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. S.; the Northeast Park East Baseball Field parking lot located at 955 62nd Ave. NE; and at the Northwest Swimming Pool parking lot located at 2331 60th St. N. Self-service locations are available at Dell Holmes Park located at 2741 22nd St. S.; Fossil Park’s northernmost parking lot located at 6875 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N.; and Walter Fuller soccer field parking lot located at 2800 75th St. N.
Individuals are encouraged to sign up for alerts at stpete.org/hurricane or by downloading the Ready Pinellas app in the App Store or Google Play to receive real-time storm updates.
Residents should also know their evacuation zone. It can be found on disaster.pinellas.gov, where other storm-related information will also be posted.
The entire city, as well as all of Pinellas County, is currently under a Hurricane Watch, Storm Surge Watch and Flood Watch. The current forecast calls for potentially historic water levels, with five to eight feet of surge predicted.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the only evacuations announced were for health care and long-term care facilities located in Evacuation Zone A. Other evacuation orders are likely to follow.
