Crews race to drain Florida waste water reservoir on brink of collapse

Crews were working around the clock on Monday to prevent the collapse of a waste water reservoir's leaky containment wall near Tampa Bay, Florida, making steady progress after officials warned of an imminent threat of flooding over the weekend.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was working alongside local emergency management crews to drain waste water from the Piney Point reservoir, which holds about 480 million gallons, in an effort to avoid a breach that could have flooded the surrounding area with a 20-foot wall of water, officials said. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a local state of emergency on Saturday over concerns that stacks of phosphogypsum waste, primarily from fertilizer manufacturing, could collapse and cause dangerous flooding at the site, which is a former phosphate plant.