4.7M gallons of raw sewage hit rivers during tornado-related outages

DAYTON, Ohio — Officials say 4.7 million gallons of untreated sewage was released into a river during Ohio’s Memorial Day tornado outbreak.

The Dayton Daily News reports county sewer workers had to divert wastewater directly into the Stillwater River after two pump stations lost power during the storms.

Wow - I have never seen storm damage this bad. Thinking of all the families who once called these apartments home. @WPXI @whiotv pic.twitter.com/wGxWrkhbis
— Gabriella DeLuca (@GabriellaDeLuca) May 29, 2019

Hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed and many more were damaged during the outbreak that saw at least 18 tornadoes touch down in western Ohio.

>>>>PHOTOS: Tornadoes sweep through Ohio causing damage, injuries

Dina Pierce is a spokeswoman for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. She says existing river water and additional rainfall diluted the sewage and moved it downstream through the Great Miami River. Pierce says for that reason officials didn’t sample the river for contamination.

Federal workers have begun assessing tornado damage.

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