PITTSBURGH — A water main break in downtown Pittsburgh flooded a nearby building’s basement Wednesday morning.
The break, which shot water about a dozen feet into the air, happened near the intersection of 4th and Wood streets around 2:30 a.m.
A man who lives nearby said he had just gotten home and heard the pipe burst.
“I just got home about 2:30 this morning and was ready to go to bed when I heard the thing burst shortly before 3 a.m.,” said Andrew Komunytsky. “I thought it sounded like a big industrial fan, so I thought it was the fans that were over there. But then I opened the window and saw the water.”
Komunytsky said the water flooded the basement of his apartment building, which is used for storage.
“Every owner has a storage unit. All that stuff is probably swimming right now,” Komunytsky said.
Komunytsky told Channel 11’s Dave Bondy that the only think he lost in the flooded basement were his golf clubs.
“Maybe insurance will get me a new set of clubs,” Komunytsky said.
The roadway has since reopened, but crews will remain at the scene Wednesday to repair the line.
Water service has been shut off while the repairs are being made. It was not immediately clear when the break would be fixed.
Crews throughout the area have been working long hours through the cold snap, repairing water line breaks. The rapid fluctuation and decrease in temperatures exposes old, weak piping – causing the lines to burst.
Even with an increase in temperatures, cold water circulating through the lines will often times remain a cause for increased breaks.
WPXI
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