Thanks, Helene! Some St. Pete residents can’t flush toilets, drain si…

ST. PETERSBURG — After days of news conferences warning about Hurricane Helene’s expected historic 5- to 8-feet storm surge, and hours after the window to evacuate had passed, Mayor Ken Welch announced at 5:30 p.m. Thursday that the city may have to take the Northeast Water Reclamation Facility offline.

At 10:46 p.m., the announcement was made to cut power to the sewer treatment facility to…