Lightning strike causes water main break in St. Pete

ST. PETERSBURG (FOX 13) - A lightning strike knocked out water service in the 6100 block of 4th St. N in St. Petersburg Wednesday afternoon. 

It happened just after 2 p.m. Officials say a lightning strike caused a power pole to topple, rupturing a 12-inch water main. That created an outage affecting water customers along and east of 4th St. from SE Madison Circle through 62nd Av.

Officials issued a precautionary Boil Water Notice later Wednesday evening for about five customers in the 4th St corridor area. The notices were being hand-delivered to homes and businesses near the line break. 

The city said there was no reason to think contaminants have entered the system, but issued the notice out of an abundance of caution.

Biological testing will be done to confirm no contaminants are present.