Water main break leaves hundreds of St. Johns homes without running water on Thanksgiving eve

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A water main break on International Golf Parkway left hundreds of St. Johns County Utility customers without running water on the night before Thanksgiving.

The county says impacted families may be under a boil water advisory for about two days.

The impacted area spans east of I-95 to Twelve Mile Swamp along International Golf Parkway.

At least five subdivisions were left without running water, including Bannon Lakes, Markland Trails, Parkland Preserve, Commerce Lake Drive, and Center Place Way Commercial Area.

Crews worked into the night to fix the break.

Aaron Guarino says he’s expecting family to arrive on Thanksgiving.

“It’s pretty aggravating,” Guarino said. “You know, we’re trying to get everything together for Thanksgiving. Like I said, we’ve got family coming over tomorrow.”

Now, he tells Action News Jax his family is having to rethink their holiday plans.

“You just kind of don’t know what to do,” he said. “You don’t know if you want to reschedule, try to go to somebody else’s house, or if you just kind of want to push through it.”

St. Johns County Director of Communications, Michael Ryan, tells Action News Jax a precautionary boil water notice will be issued after the water main break’s been fixed.

Ryan says neighbors who get a notice should boil all water used for drinking, cooking, making ice, brushing teeth, or washing dishes, for at least one minute.

“The advisory will remain in effect until lab tests show that the water is safe to drink and an official retraction notice is posted, typically within a minimum of two days. An updated map of boil water notices for Utility Department customers is available at www.sjcfl.us/bwnmap. For more information, please call 904.209.2731,” Ryan said in a statement.

Guarino says his family is prepared for the days ahead.

“We got five, gallon jugs, of water so, you know, if we need drinking water or anything like that we’re prepared for it,” he said.

Cox Media Group