downtown water main damage
Brent Finnegan -- July 28th, 2008
A water main burst beneath East Market Street downtown Saturday (between Federal and Court Square). The city just announced that the street is expected to be opened later this evening, but that both lanes will be “restricted” tomorrow while temporary repairs are completed.
From the press release:
The pressure exerted from the water main break caused the pavement and sidewalk to heave in certain locations. It is necessary to let the remaining pavement and concrete structures settle to their original position. Paving will occur in the next week once pavement has had an opportunity to settle.
This one kinda freaked me out, I went home from work on Saturday and my power died. Midtowne employee called and told me that the power was our there too. I rode my bike down and passed this crater in the road with the crew working on it. Then all of the reporters from WHSV were on the corner because they were both trying to get the story and figure out how to break into the building (electronic keys + backup generator that won’t run =trouble). The police were curtious but would give no information on the situation (including advice on what to do with $2000 worth of frozen/refrigerated product at my store, I just wanted a time line to know if I needed to rush out and buy ice). Thank God, a half of an hour later everything is restored and I calmed down but it made me wonder what would have happened in the event of a real disaster.
What a mess in front of my store. Evan Dyson just stopped in to chat and took some pictures!
It gave us something to watch all day, although at one point we thought a chunk of pavement was going to go flying through our window. They were kind enough to move a dump truck in front of the window when a few of the guys expressed their concerns. It was neat to see what they could get done in a day.