fbpx

Business grinds to a halt after water break in Fort Lauderdale

Workers try to fix the water main break at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport

Businesses, restaurants and shopping centers around Fort Lauderdale were closing Thursday as taps dried up after a contractor damaged a 42-inch water main.

The damaged main connects the city’s wellfield near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport with the Five Ash Water Treatment plant along Powerline Road where it runs underneath I-95. Without water from the wellfield, the treatment plant was shut down and the few water towers in the city weren’t enough to keep the water flowing.

One worker at an aviation business at the airport told the Sun-Sentinel that the main ruptured about 2 p.m.. on Wednesday and flooded a parking lot between hangars. When SFBW visit the site there was a report that a piece of pipe to fix the break was being brought up from Kendall. The city said water was expected to be off until at least Friday morning if not longer.

Mayor Dean Trantalis signed a state of local emergency and the city issued a boil water alert. The Broward Sheriff’s Office Fire Rescue department activated its emergency fire suppression plan for Port Everglades, which would use ocean water in case it needs to fight a fire.

A pipe for one of Fort Lauderdale’s water wells near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is visible to the right.

The city identified the contractor as Florida Communication Concepts, a subcontractor working with Florida Power & Light Co. State records say Florida Communication Concepts is based in Wellington. SFBW called the law firm listed as its registered agent, but could not immediately gain comments since attorneys were in a meeting.

The lack of water led to widespread closing of businesses, including hotels on the city’s beach. Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport gets its water from Hollywood, so it was able to stay open.

In addition to not having water flowing from faucets and to flush toilets, safety was also an issue since there wasn’t water for fire sprinkler systems. The economic impact will undoubtedly range into the tens of millions of dollars.

Some commercial buildings and high-rise condos also use water-based cooling systems that were having to shut down since there was no new water to feed them as water evaporated.

The Breakthrough Wealth Summit at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center was moved to the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood.

The City of Ft. Lauderdale 24-hour Neighbor Service is available to answer any resident questions at (954) 828-8000.

 

 

 

 

You May Also Like
Reaching Out

I know that Stephen Garber knows people. The president of Third Level is a seasoned expert on change management, relationship building and quality-of-life issues. He is an international executive coach,

Read More
Stephen Garber
SOUTH FLORIDA BUSINESS & WEALTH GOES 2.0

This is the time and this is the page when the new editor-in-chief typically would tell you to get ready for a new SFBW experience—but since you’ve seen the cover,

Read More
Are Your Salespeople Taking Shortcuts?

Connor, a software sales rep, had been having a rough day. He’d been bombarded with questions from several customers and gotten behind on work he needed to finish before the

Read More
COVID and the Commercial Sector

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text] For South Florida’s vigorous commercial real estate sector, there is a Grand Canyon-size fissure between market conditions on March 1 and

Read More
Other Posts
“Workations”—i.e., Blended Travel—Is the Hot New Perk

With remote work seemingly here to stay, vacation days have entered a nebulous zone and become ever harder to track, while traveling has dropped into the most ambiguous space of

Read More
What Vitruvia Offers Is Medical Innovation: Personalized, Minimally Invasive Treatment

“Dr. Abhinav Gautam was one of the first people I met when I moved to Miami,” Christian Seale recalls. In 2015, the two were introduced by Dr. Narendra Kini, a

Read More
How the Pandemic Solidified Expectations of Work/Life Balance

“On or about December 1910 human character changed,” Virginia Woolf once wrote. The COVID-19 pandemic changed us as well. Behind the bold red cover of this issue lies a beating

Read More
Drew Limsky
LoKation Real Estate Offers Something Different, and Lucrative, for Agents

Jeremy Beard already had several successful careers under his belt when he joined LoKation Real Estate in 2015, and he draws wisdom from each of them now as the company’s

Read More

Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.