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Broken main floods Seventh Avenue

Broken main floods Seventh Avenue
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto

A busted water main gushed water onto Seventh Avenue on Dec. 1.

An underground pipe between 65th and 66th streets spewed brown water onto the thoroughfare, causing traffic delays and threatening to spill over onto the nearby Gowanus Expressway, said Community Board 10’s district manager.

“It’s pretty bad,” Josephine Beckmann said at the time. “It’s flowing in the street and because it’s so close to the highway it’s a concern. It’s a heavily traveled roadway.”

The flow got really bad around 3 pm, but a person called 311 at 11 am complaining about a small leak in the street, according to Beckmann.

Toil and trouble: Water bubbles up from where the main broke.
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto

It is unclear what caused the pipe to burst, she said.

Department of Environmental Protection workers arrived at 4 pm to shut off the water, and the investigation is ongoing.


Video by Georgine Benvenuto
Reach reporter Caroline Spivack at cspivack@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260–2523. Follow her on Twitter @carolinespivack.
Car wash: Water was about to spill over onto the expressway when our photographer was there at 3 pm.
Photo by Georgine Benvenuto