Water main break in Northern Liberties forces some residents to temporarily relocate
PHILADELPHIA - Crews are working overtime Monday night to repair a colossal crater left behind by a water main break that flooded a Northern Liberties neighborhood and snarled traffic.
"My reaction was holy crap! There is a giant hole in the street," said Chelsea Cornwell.
She is relieved to come home after traveling over the weekend to find her place free of damage.
"I was concerned about our garage and our basement and thankfully the water didn't get to us," said Cornwell.
Nick Nawrocki is not as lucky.
"I woke up to two big booms and then nothing happened for about five or ten minutes and then the fire alarms started going off," said Nawrocki. Now he will not be having Thanksgiving home this year.
"My parents only live about less than an hour away so I'm just taking my stuff back there now," he said.
L&I deemed his apartment building unsafe. So he and others spent today moving out what they could after evacuating yesterday.
"We went down to the one main exit and water was already there and then luckily we had the side exit that hadn't started overflowing yet. So we made our way to the side street right behind it," said Nawrocki.
It happened Sunday morning on the 1100 block of North Fourth Street just south of Girard. Officials say it was a 20-inch water main that broke.
Water main break creates damage in Northern Liberties: officials
A sidewalk and a vehicle have been damaged after a water main break occurred in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties neighborhood Sunday.
"Within minutes this was already flooded. Thank God the sewers were cleaned out and all the water was able to stay here and did not pass further up toward 4th Street," said Nawrocki.
Jonathan Rodriguez attends Second Christian Missionary Church nearby. He says they had just finished praying and were getting ready for Sunday service when it happened.
"All of a sudden I heard a loud bang," he said. Rodriguez says the church is prepared to help those who have been displaced.
"We'll definitely keep our doors open for bathrooms, showers to try and help out because that's very uncomfortable to try and move out and see where they're going to go," he said. Officials are unsure when the work here will be done. At last check they were still assessing repairs and damage.