Flooding still a concern in Titusville as debris piles up, trash pick-up faces delays

'Smells like a swamp': Titusville trash pickup hits a snag

After being slammed with torrential rain and flooding, some residents in Titusville have another potential issue: delays in trash pickup. This week, the City of Titusville said its transfer station suffered a "catastrophic" failure with its hydraulic system, forcing it to be closed for an unknown amount of time. That means garbage trucks have to travel to Cocoa, which could result in delays with trash pickup.

What residents are dealing with

What we know:

TITUSVILLE, Fla. - Flooding hasn’t subsided for people who live on Knox McRae Drive in Titusville. Homeowners still have feet of standing water in their backyards and nowhere to put it. They’re worried about the water becoming a health and safety hazard with mold and other toxins growing.

"It smells like a swamp," said Rick Mellinger, who’s still dealing with flooding.

They also are on septic, so they think there could be waste in the water. There’s also a lot of debris in the standing water that will have to get picked up and go somewhere. That's a new concern with possible trash pick-up delays.

"After it dries up, we’re going to start cleaning up the branches and everything – yeah, it will be a problem," said Philip Marketon, who is still dealing with flooding.

Homeowners say better drainage systems could reduce how long they flood for. They’re worried about over-development and lack of stormwater management in the growing city.

What they're saying:

The trash plant malfunction is happening at a county-run facility, but it’s affecting residents in Titusville.

The city posted this update on Wednesday to keep residents in the loop:

"Yesterday, Nov. 4, the Brevard County operated transfer station in Titusville suffered a catastrophic failure of its hydraulic system, requiring the station to be closed until further notice. This closure will result in longer transit times for waste operations as the drivers must now drive to the facility in Cocoa. While Public Works is working diligently to ensure that collection days and routes remain the same with minimal disruption, the county has warned that due to the nature of the failure, an estimated repair time cannot currently be predicted."

The mayor says this is an inconvenience, but he’s working to make sure staff keeps up with trash collection and residents don’t feel too many impacts.

"It’s going to be a challenge, but we’ll work through it as a city to make sure we’re getting our trash to where it needs to be," Titusville mayor Andrew Connors said.

FOX 35 reached out to the county on Thursday for an update on the situation. A spokesperson sent this update:

"Contractors have been working since Tuesday afternoon to get at least one of the transfer station pits operable. While we are hopeful that we can get it running soon, we have no guarantee on the timeline. Citizens who would normally use the transfer station can still bring items to the Mockingbird Way Mulching Facility, where we have some transfer trailers to accept their waste. While this is a concern and an inconvenience for trash collection, the shut down of a transfer station is not an unusual event. The Sarno Road Transfer Station has been shut down several times, interrupting trash collection in the south portion of Brevard County."