PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — About 3.15 million gallons of sewage spilled as the result of a pipe burst on Douglas Avenue near Rolfe Terrace in Portsmouth earlier this week as the Hampton Roads Sanitation District said it completed emergency repairs Friday.
The sewage spill, with its flow reaching three-to-four feet and lasting for about 11 hours, came amid severe weather that hit the region Tuesday. One person likened it to “a porta-potty on steroids.”
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said the city notified HRSD of the force main failure around 6 p.m., with a media advisory going out around 9:45 p.m. and HRSD notifying nearby residents by going door-to-door. Sewage was not able to be diverted to other parts of HRSD’s sewage collection system, so it started round-the-clock pumping and hauling of sewage, which involved 30 trucks.
As HRSD pumped out the sewer main failure location, it dug down to expose the sewer main, finding a large hole in the top of the concrete pipe…