Elsa causes sewage overflow in Murray Hill, Blanding Boulevard

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Heavy rain from Elsa caused raw sewage to spill out of a manhole in Murray Hill at the corner of Mayflower and Nelson Street Wednesday.

According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, about a 1,000 gallons of sewage leaked out after flooding along the street.

”Not good,” Leslie Dawson, a neighbor on Mayflower Street said. “Health for us. Health for the pets. Tracking it in to the house. No, it’s not good.”

The same intersection overflowed with sewer water before. According to the DEP, another 1,000 gallons leaked out on June 14th because of heavy rain.

”You could see water gushing out from there,” James Ohara, another neighbor, said.

Sewage also overflowed out of a manhole on Blanding Boulevard Wednesday.

In a statement to Action News Jax, JEA said, “The overflows at these locations were the result of additional water flow from substantial rain, groundwater and standing water that found their way into our sewer system.”

A representative said testing showed no impacts to residential properties in both areas.

JEA’s Environmental Incident Response Team is monitoring, but a representative said the environmental impact is ‘minimal’.

JEA said it is investigating sewer mains in Murray Hill and on Blanding Boulevard to find areas where stormwater may be leaking into the sewer system.

”They’ve been working on the sewers after the flooding became so terrible,” Dawson said.

Action News Jax obtained an email sent to Dawson about testing in her neighborhood. Crews started Friday and should be done Monday.

For more information on how crews test for potential leaks, click here.

Action News Jax dug through records maintained by the DEP. In the last month, 3,650 gallons of raw sewage overflowed across Duval.

The locations include:

• 7245 Blanding Boulevard (Reported July 8th)
• Nelson Street & Mayflower Street (Reported July 8th)
• Falcon Street W & Lancia Street N (Reported June 16th)
• Gandy Street & Smyrna Street (Reported June 30th)

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