Storm runoff leaves a pool unsafe, not just ugly — and the rain washed out the chlorine that would normally handle it. We clear it, rebuild the chemistry, and tell you in writing when it is safe again. Most pools are done in two visits. St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Largo, Palm Harbor and the rest of Pinellas.
A named storm does not stop at a city line, and neither do we. Post-storm cleanup runs across Pinellas County and into South Tampa.
Two things happen at once in a hurricane, and it is the combination that matters: contaminated water gets into the pool at the exact moment its disinfectant is wiped out.
Floodwater and heavy runoff carry sewage-associated bacteria, viruses and protozoa. The CDC lists illness from contaminated floodwater ranging from stomach upset through to dysentery and infectious hepatitis, and names E. coli and Enterococci among the organisms routinely found in it.
In Pinellas that water has usually crossed septic drainfields, storm drains, lawns and street runoff on its way into your backyard. A screen enclosure does not filter any of it.
A pool is safe because its disinfectant is held in a working range. Inches of rain dilute chlorine and stabilizer together, the pump has been off for days, and the debris load consumes whatever is left. By the time the water is still again there is often no measurable sanitizer at all.
The CDC is explicit that it is properly maintained disinfectant that makes treated water low-risk. After a storm, that is precisely the thing your pool no longer has.
Research on storm-affected water systems found E. coli loads climbing within 12 to 24 hours of a storm starting — and Legionella rising four to five days later. That second window is the one people miss: the water has stopped looking dramatic, the panic has passed, and everyone has moved on to the roof. It is also when the pool is at its worst.
This is the trap. Debris settles, the water goes clear again, and it looks finished — with no sanitizer in it whatsoever. You cannot see bacteria, and a pool that looks swimmable four days after a hurricane is exactly the one nobody should be getting into. The only way to know is to test it, and the only way to fix it is to rebuild the chemistry properly and hold it there.
Nobody swims until the numbers are back in a safe band — and we will tell you when that is, in writing, rather than when it merely looks clear.
A foot of rain puts the water over the skimmer mouth, which means the skimmers stop skimming and the surface debris just sits there. Worth fixing quickly. But this is also the moment people decide to empty the pool out and start again, and it is the worst possible moment to do it.
The ground is more saturated the day after a storm than at any other point in the year. Taking the water out then is exactly when a shell is most likely to lift.
How we bring it back down
The storm is the easy part to see. What it left behind is not.
Sand behaves nothing like leaf litter, and a pool full of both needs a different answer than either alone. Most services own one method and make every pool fit it. We pick the tool for what is actually on your floor.
For sand and heavy silt
Storm surge and runoff drop fine sand and grit that will pack a filter solid in a single pass. This one sends it out of the pool entirely, bypassing your filter rather than loading it — so the heavy material is gone in one go instead of being pushed through equipment that then has to be stripped.
It costs some water, which we top back up. That is a fair trade when the alternative is a blinded filter and three more visits.
For leaf litter and sludge
Our other vacuums carry their own filtration. The debris comes out and the water goes back in, so the level does not drop — which matters when the ground is already saturated and taking a pool down is the last thing anyone should be doing.
This is the one that clears pools other companies look at and quote a full drain and acid wash on.
Most storm pools are done in two: the first clears the debris and rebuilds the chemistry, the second confirms the numbers held and finishes the polish. A service running everything through your filter cannot do that — they are back a third and fourth time because the filter keeps blinding, or they are quoting you a drain. Genuinely destroyed pools take longer, and we will say so when we have seen it.
Same sequence every time, whether it was a squall line that dropped half a tree in the pool or a named storm that took the power out for a week.
Order matters here. Branches and mulch get netted out before anything is switched on, because running the pump with that in the water is how you pack the suction lines and turn a cleanup into a repair. Skimmer throats and pump basket get cleared at the same time.
A storm load will blind a filter in a single cycle, so the heavy silt goes out to waste rather than through it. The filter itself then gets backwashed or pulled and cleaned, not just glanced at — otherwise the recovery is running through something that cannot pass water.
Heavy rain dilutes chlorine, stabilizer, and alkalinity all at once, so the water isn't just low on sanitizer — the whole panel has moved. We test the full set and rebuild it from the real numbers.
Storm water carries lawn fertilizer, soil, and street runoff into the pool. That loads it with phosphates and nitrates — algae food that keeps the pool turning even after the chlorine is back up.
Before anything gets switched back on: how high the water came, whether the motor got wet, and whether the pad drained. A motor that sat in water can often be dried and cleaned professionally — but silt inside one that gets energised first will seize it, and then it is a replacement.
Chlorine crashes again as the debris load keeps breaking down. We come back and hold the numbers until they stay put, rather than declaring it done while it's still climbing back.
Every visit is written up the same way as our weekly service — chemistry numbers, what got done, and photos in your inbox.
A storm pool does not hold steady while you wait for a call back. It moves in one direction, and each stage costs more to reverse than the one before it.
Debris is loose on the surface and the chemistry is only diluted. This is the cheapest the job will ever be, and usually a single visit.
Organics have settled and started breaking down, the algae has taken hold, and what was a cleanup becomes a recovery with several visits.
Sludge on the floor, stained plaster, and a filter that will need pulling apart. Standing water is also breeding mosquitoes by this point.
Call or text as early as you can — even before the power is back and before we can get to you. Getting in the queue costs nothing and it is what decides which of those three columns your pool is in when we arrive.
Text us a few pictures of the pool and we will come back with a flat number for the cleanup — before anyone turns up. Emergency storm work is the easiest place in this industry to run a meter on someone who has just had a rough week, and we would rather you knew the price up front.
Send photos now and you get a flat number and a real position in the queue — even if the power is still out.
Storm damage often turns into a green pool a few days later. Serving pools across Pinellas County — St. Petersburg, St. Pete Beach, Treasure Island, Clearwater, Largo, Seminole, and the barrier islands that take it worst.
The ones that come up every June through November. See all FAQs →
Not until it has been tested, and usually not for a few days. Storm runoff carries sewage-associated bacteria into the pool at the same time the rain has diluted your chlorine to nothing, so the water can be genuinely unsafe while looking completely normal. Clear is not the same as sanitized. Nobody should be getting in until the numbers are back in a safe band and holding there.
Probably, and this is the one that catches people. Debris settles out and the water goes clear on its own, which makes it look finished — while there is still no measurable sanitizer in it. The visible mess is the easy part. What actually needs doing is rebuilding the chemistry and holding it long enough to be confident the water is safe again.
Almost always, yes — and it is one of the more common calls we get in Pinellas. A failed cage drops screen panels, aluminium framing and fasteners into the water, which is heavy, awkward debris rather than a reason to write the pool off. We clear what is in the pool and flag anything that has scratched the finish. We do not rebuild enclosures, but we will tell you honestly what the water and the surface look like underneath once it is out, which is usually what the insurance conversation needs.
Possibly. Lightning and grid surges take out pump motors, control boards, timers and automation, and it is a separate problem from a motor that sat in floodwater — a surge-damaged board often looks completely dry. Either way, do not keep flipping the breaker to test it. We check the pad as part of a storm cleanup, tell you which of the two you are dealing with, and quote the repair before anything is replaced.
Continuously for the first couple of days, not on its usual timer. A mildly cloudy pool generally needs a full 24 hours of circulation; one that went green or took a real debris load needs 48 or more. The filter is doing the actual clearing at that point, so it needs to keep running — and it will need cleaning more than once while it does.
It is the same call, just further along. Green after a storm is an algae bloom that got going while the pump was off, fed by debris and runoff — the storm caused it, so we handle it as part of the cleanup rather than as a separate booking. If it has been sitting green for weeks rather than days it becomes a full recovery, which is its own process.
It depends on how wide the damage is. After a major storm we are triaging a whole route, and existing weekly customers come first. Call or text as early as you can — even before the power is back — and we will give you a real position in the queue rather than a promise we cannot keep. Getting on the list costs nothing and it decides how big the job is by the time we arrive.
Most storm pools take two visits. The first clears the debris and rebuilds the chemistry; the second, a few days later, confirms the numbers held and finishes the polish. We manage that because we vacuum sand straight to waste and use filtered vacuums for the sludge, rather than pushing everything through your filter and coming back every time it blinds. A pool that sat untouched for a week or more, or one that took genuine flooding, takes longer — and we will say so once we have seen it.
It needs bringing back down, yes. Above the skimmer mouth the skimmers stop working entirely, so nothing is being pulled off the surface. What matters more is what people do about it: this is the moment homeowners decide to empty the pool out, on the one day of the year the ground is most saturated — which is exactly when a shell is most likely to lift. We bring the level down to the tile line as part of the visit.
Usually not, and be careful with anyone who leads with that. Draining a pool in saturated Florida ground carries real risk, and we run vacuums with integrated filtration — the debris and sludge come out of the pool without the water going with them. Most post-storm pools, even genuinely awful-looking ones, come back with cleaning and chemistry. A full drain is a last resort, not a starting point.
Often, yes — but not by switching it on to find out. A motor that sat in floodwater can usually be dried and cleaned professionally. What kills it is energising it with silt still inside, which seizes the bearings and turns a service call into a replacement. Leave the breaker off until someone has actually looked at it.
It is a flat quote given up front from photos, not an hourly meter. The number moves with how much debris is in the pool, how long it has been sitting, and what shape the equipment is in. Storm work is the easiest place in this industry to run a meter on someone who has just had a rough week, and we would rather you knew the price before anyone turns up.
It varies a lot by policy, so it is worth a call to your carrier before you assume either way. Structural damage and equipment are treated differently from debris removal and water chemistry, and deductibles on named storms often work differently from the rest of the policy. Keep photos from before and after — they help whichever way it goes.
Storms are the reason a lot of people stop doing this themselves. If you want it handled year-round instead, here’s how weekly service works. Before the next one, there’s also the hurricane prep checklist.