Hurricane Michael damaged septic and aerobic systems county-wide - some areas were hit harder than others

The Department of Health says Hurricane Michael caused a lot of damage to septic tanks in Franklin County and some areas were hit much harder than others.

The Department of Health brought in a 14 member environmental health strike team after the storm to see how severe the damage to septic and aerobic systems was.

They found a lot of small damage county-wide including tanks pushed up and the caps popped off and the state allowed those to be repaired without a permit.

Much of the smaller damage has already been fixed.

Some areas will take longer to fix – including homes in the Plantation near the Bob Sikes Cut, Dog Island, Alligator Point and properties along the water on Highway 98 especially between St James and Carrabelle.

In those areas the damage to septic and aerobic systems was more severe and in many cases the systems or their drain fields were washed away completely and have to be replaced.

The state is requiring permits for that work, and in cases where the properties may have eroded away during the storm they are asking for a new survey.

As of last week, there were 35 applications on file; the Health Department expects many more in the coming weeks.

In some cases there may not be enough property left to meet the setback requirements for a new septic system and that may make the homes uninhabitable even if they weren't weren't damaged in the storm.

County officials said those will be handled on a case by case basis.

County RESTORE coordinator Alan Pierce said a number of the worst hit properties are at Alligator Point and he said this is yet another reason that property owners there who have experienced repeated damage from storm surge and erosion should consider selling to the county and finding another place to live.

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