Punta Gorda faces boil water notice after cold weather breaks pipes

Punta Gorda is currently under a precautionary boil water notice. According to the city on Facebook, an increased demand for water, coupled with cold weather, led to a water line break.

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Flooding from past storms has worsened the situation by corroding many pipes and drains. A city spokesperson said over 100 water lines have broken due to the colder temperatures.

Kimberly Moore, manager and bartender at Shorty’s Place, said that safety is a priority for the establishment.

“We go out of our way to make sure that everybody is safe and can still come and have a great time,” said Moore.

Despite the boil water notice, Shorty’s Place is taking measures to continue serving its customers.

“Shut down all the soda machines. We had to go get all canned soda, juice, everything like that, lots of bagged ice; we shut down our ice machines,” said Moore.

She described the additional efforts, saying, “It takes just a little bit more time, but you do what you have to do.”

Moore emphasized the importance of cleanliness during this time.

“All sanitizers, stick to more plastic, sanitizer buckets lots of Lysol, just trying to keep everything clean and safe,” Moore said.

Interim City Manager Melissa Reichert said that the city is actively working on long-term solutions to prevent future issues.

“Looking at different improvements, infrastructure improvements in our capital improvements program, we have a number of water mains that will be coming online,” Reichert said. “We are also looking to expand our well field and our road trains again to improve that redundancy in water sources.”

The boil water notice may be lifted as soon as Saturday if testing results are favorable.