Aug 7, 2009 1:23 pm US/Eastern
TriBeCa Cleans Up After Water Main Break
Large Main Break Closes Streets, Floods Buildings On West Broadway
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A large water main break flooded streets of lower Manhattan early Friday morning, shutting down streets and causing a commuter headache on August 7, 2009.
CBS
An aging water main burst in Lower Manhattan early Friday, flooding about 15 buildings, causing evacuations and closing streets within a three block radius.
The 12-inch main broke at the intersection of West Broadway and Duane Street around 2:30 a.m. Friday. The water was up to 4 feet deep in some buildings at the height of the flood. It gushed for about three hours, and continued to trickle as workers dug up the street.
CBS 2 HD was live at the scene around 6 a.m., where emergency crews could be seen working frantically to reduce the damage caused by the gushing water.
The large main broke in the middle of the street and uprooted a large section of the intersection of West Broadway and Duane Street.
Officials said Duane Street was closed between Hudson and Church Streets, and West Broadway was closed between Reade and Worth Streets.
As of 5 a.m., officials were able to shut off the water.
The messy situation also affected mass transit in the TriBeCa neighborhood. M20 buses were rerouted for the morning commute.
One building houses some phone company offices, where sandbags were used to protect equipment in the basement as the water was pumped out, said Deputy Fire Chief James Daly.
Most of the buildings affected are five or six stories, with apartments and small businesses.
"Everything is totally ruined," said a devastated-looking Sharon Hershkowitz, who owns a heavily affected building and its ground floor business, Balloon Saloon. "It looked like the Mississippi River running down West Broadway."
Her damaged inventory included party supplies, balloons and cards. She said she wouldn't be able to deliver orders Friday for several birthday parties and corporate events.
"The hard drive is floating in there somewhere, luckily I backed it up. But it's hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods," she said. "In these economic hard times, you don't want to lose any customers."
One of her tenants, resident Larry Blasius, awoke around 2:30 a.m. when firefighters pounded on his door.
"I looked out and saw the river of water below," said Blasius, who ended up standing on the street, looking sleepy but resigned. "I've lived in New York City all my life. You put up with all the inconveniences."
The water main dates to the 1800s.
"Eventually it's going to go; it can't last forever," Daly said.
"You know it's really scary to see a place where you live with dirty water coming all the way up," said another resident Sardi Klein.
The cause of the main break is not yet known. Once the water is pumped out of all the evacuated buildings, FDNY officials said they'd make sure each structure is sound.
CBS 2's Kathryn Brown contributed to this report.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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