A major water main break in South Boston caused a mess Wednesday night when a large volume of water tore up the pavement, flowing into the area where Dorchester Street intersects with E. and W. Eighth streets.
A major water main break in South Boston caused a mess Wednesday night when a large volume of water tore up the pavement, flowing into the area where Dorchester Street intersects with E. and W. Eighth streets.
A photo sent to NBC10 Boston by a resident shows brown water filling up a bathtub after the water main burst around 6:30 p.m.
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The Boston Fire Department responded to investigate and secure affected buildings. At least one basement has 10-12 inches of water inside, according to firefighters.
Crews are investigating what caused the pipe to break in the first place, but firefighters believe this is old and aging infrastructure below ground.
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"A lot of the water mains in the city are old and they just go when they go," District Fire Chief Gerald Hogan said. "Typically they go when the temperature extremes go from cold to hot - sometimes after the wintertime."
Video from the scene showed water flooding the streets, impacting at least 25 customers in the area.
Boston police, Eversource, Boston Inspectional Services and Boston Water and Sewer Commission (BWSC) also responded. BWSC crews were excavating to repair the 12-inch main on Dorchester Street.
The fire department said water and power have been turned off in the immediate area while the crews are working.
There are no evacuations or injuries -- just an immense amount of water.
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Residents who spoke with NBC10 Boston Wednesday night say it was quite a sight to see water burst out of the ground, tearing up pavement in the process.
"I was making dinner in my apartment and my roommate yelled at me to come and look outside because the pavement had literally torn itself up and there was water flooding the streets," said Taylor Herrera. "It was a pretty wild thing to see, having water completely just tear up pavement like that."
"There was like water flooding all through the street. And we came out here and it was flooding like all the way down to the end of the road. There was like a huge like pipe that was almost like burst out of the ground over there and like it ripped up the pavement and everything," Corey Thomas said.
Crews will likely be on scene until Thursday afternoon cleaning up all the debris and making repairs. Members from the fire department will remain on scene for safety as services are repaired.
People are being asked to avoid the area.
