The city of Gulf Breeze sent out an emergency call to residents Thursday asking them to check water spigots at their boat docks.
“The city is losing water rapidly,” the call to action said.
City Manager Samantha Abell said the situation is something that could have been anticipated following the winter storm that brought snow and freezing temperatures to Santa Rosa County and Northwest Florida this week.
“After severe weather it’s very common on a peninsula like ours,” she said.
In a place like Gulf Breeze where many residents have water access and boat docks, homeowners, in an abundance of caution, would have allowed water spigots to run to keep pipes from freezing, she said. Also, in some instances, there are second homes in Gulf Breeze that are not being occupied during this time of year where precautions might have been taken to pipes from bursting.
“Now that the pipes are thawing we’re seeing a loss of pressure,” Abell said.
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She said the city does have a back up water supply, but doesn’t want to tap into it. City officials can monitor how far the available water level drops, but couldn’t immediately produce numbers due to the rapidly changing situation.
The notification put out appeared to be working early Thursday afternoon, Abell said, and calls were coming in to a local call center.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida winter storm precautions impact Gulf Breeze water levels
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