Ruptured Sewage Line Temporarily Fixed In Fort Lauderdale

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - At last, some good news for residents of the Rio Vista neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale.

A temporary fix is in a week after a 54-inch sewage flooded streets, parks and yards of the affluent neighborhood.

At 3:04 Wednesday morning, a bypass was installed diverting sewage around the broken pipe and sewage is no longer flowing into the Tarpon River.

"And we've seen the dead fish in the canals," said Dean Trantalis, Fort Lauderdale Mayor.

The millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing into the Tarpon has stopped, but the clean up goes on.

"Ten aerators are operating to improve water quality, but we are still advising people in the neighborhood not to go in the water."

The city says the crisis underscores their commitment to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fix aging pipes.

"Over the next five years alone, we will be investing a minimum of $600 million in new sewer mains, water pipes, pump stations, storm drains, tidal valves, catch basins, and other projects to strengthen our infrastructure for the future," the mayor added. 

Officials expect work on the new pipe, fixing the old broken one, to be completed this weekend.

"It's a big pipe but conservatively speaking, we expect it to be done by Saturday at the latest," said Chris Lagerbloom, City Manager.