St. Pete Declares State of Emergency, Announces Facility Closures

The city of St. Petersburg has declared a state of emergency ahead of Tropical Storm Helene, giving the mayor Ken Welch expanded powers to issue special orders to ensure public safety.

With the state of emergency in place, the city closed its facilities on Wednesday and Thursday, including Sunken Gardens and all city buildings.

All parks and recreation centre activities that do not include childcare will be closed from 5pm on Tuesday.

St. Pete Pier will close at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Independent restaurants in the Pier District are subject to their own closure orders, so customers should check with businesses to see if they are open.

Residents whose trash is collected on Thursdays will not be able to have both trash and recycling collected until Saturday, September 28. The city is asking residents who have city trash or recycling containers to secure them safely.

Waste disposal sites will be open on Wednesday — residents can use them to dispose of garden waste in preparation for the storm — but will be closed on Thursday.

The Code Enforcement Board meeting scheduled for Wednesday has been canceled. All City Council and Committee meetings scheduled for Thursday have been canceled.

If conditions do not change, the city plans to resume operations as usual on Friday. Updates will be shared regularly on the city’s social media channels, including Facebook and X.

The city has partially activated its Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) on Tuesday, with full activity continuing on Wednesday and Thursday.

City workers are deploying pump stations in Riviera Bay and Shore Acres and setting up generators to assist with drainage. Workers are also working with local contractors to secure cranes at construction sites.

Street sweepers are picking up debris like pine needles in low-lying areas to help with drainage and mitigate flooding. This includes Coquina Key, Sunset Drive, Twin Brooks, Shore Acres and Riviera Bay.

Sandbag collection will be available until 7:00 PM on Tuesday and from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Wednesday, or weather permitting.

Full-service parking is available at the Lake Maggiore Park Shelter Area at 3601 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. S.; the Northeast Park East Baseball Field parking lot at 955 62nd Ave. NE; and the Northwest Swimming Pool parking lot at 2331 60th St. N. Self-service parking is available at Dell Holmes Park at 2741 22nd St. S.; the northernmost Fossil Park parking lot at 6875 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N.; and the Walter Fuller soccer field parking lot at 2800 75th St. N.

We encourage people to sign up for notifications at stpete.org/hurricane or by downloading the Ready Pinellas app on the App Store or Google Play to stay up to date on storm updates.

Residents should also know their evacuation zone. It can be found at disaster.pinellas.govwhere other information related to the storm will also be posted.

The entire city, as well as all of Pinellas County, is currently under a hurricane warning, storm surge warning, and flood warning. The current forecast calls for potentially historic water levels, with a projected rise of five to eight feet.

As of Tuesday afternoon, only evacuations had been announced for health care and long-term care facilities located in Evacuation Zone A. Other evacuation orders are likely to be issued.

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