Freezing temps cause several city water main breaks

Several streets blocked off due to breaks

BALTIMORE —The below-freezing temperatures are causing major problems for pipes in the region.
Department of Public Works officials said crews are working to repair between 15-20 water main breaks that occurred over the past few days. Many left residents without water and crews working around the clock in the sub-freezing cold.

DPW said a water main break happened in the 500 block of South Broadway in Fells Point on Tuesday night.

Officials told 11 News the break was near a vacant business and may have compromised a Baltimore Gas and Electric utility line. As a result, several other businesses may have been affected.

In northeast Baltimore, Sky Team 11 caught the effects of a water main breaking inside of a home in the 4000 block of Old York Road on Tuesday afternoon. Water could be seen flowing out of the walls of the home and running down the street.

Water main breaks were also reported Wednesday morning on West North Avenue between Fulton Avenue and Monroe Street, on East Lombard Street between South Street and Calvert Street, on Patapsco Street between Heath Street and Barney Street and on Holabird Avenue between Poncabird Pass and Broening Highway.

Traffic Pulse 11 maps show a water main break at Washington Boulevard has since been repaired, but detours between South Carey Street and West Ostend Street remain in place Wednesday morning.

Public works crews were out in full force Wednesday fixing the breaks all over the city.

In the three days since the deep freeze set in, officials said they have received 600 no-water calls -- so many that they've had to bring in extra workers to handle the volume.

"We have other workers who have been brought in, reassigned from other duties they do in the bureau. We also have contractual workers. There are probably 300 workers on average that are involved in this one way or another at any particular time," Baltimore City Department of Public Works spokesman Kurt Kocher said.

A break on Moravia Road left homes in the area with no water. Gerard Colbert woke to find his faucets wouldn't turn on.

"It's a big hassle. You can't do a lot of stuff as far as washing your face, brushing your teeth, stuff like that," Colbert said. "We had some water in the bottles just in case something like that might happen, and we just put it on the stove and started boiling the water to make sure we had hot water."

Public works officials recommend keeping bottled water on hand during the extreme cold, as well as keeping outside faucets turned off so they don't freeze and keeping some water moving in pipes inside of the home.

"By letting a small trickle of water from the lowest point in your house -- your laundry tub for instance -- continuously run, and we're talking about the size of a pencil, that keeps water running through the service line," Kocher said.

The water main breaks also created a secondary problem of ice. The temperatures are so cold that even though crews are throwing down salt, the water pumped out as they fix a break freezes over on sidewalks and roads, making them treacherous.

"When you see something like this, try not to go near it. First of all, you want to protect yourself by not skidding on this ice. Secondly, you want to protect our crews by not flying through an area that's a work zone where there could be patches of ice," Kocher said.

Public works officials said even when the temperatures warm up, there will still be a lot of breaks as the ground thaws out.