Water Main Break Carves Sinkhole on Humphrey

A water main break early this morning cut off service to the , carved a sinkhole and slowed traffic on Humphrey Street.

The line ruptured about 4:30 am, said Director Gino Cresta.

A piece on the bottom of the 100-year-old cast-iron pipe blew out and a 13-foot section cracked, the director said.

DPW shut down the water gate, stemming the flow of water, and called in a contractor, Meninno Construction.

A Meninno crew dig up the ground, replaced the broken pipe and filled the hole.

Rushing water undermined the surface at the roadside, creating a sinkhole four feet deep and about eight feet long, Cresta said.

DPW crews have been working and continue to work long hours clearing and hauling debris after Tuesday's flood so Cresta called in the contractor for help this morning.

Residents at the Bertram House assisted-living home community and about 10 nearby homes lost their water service for seven hours.

Service was restored about 11:30 am, the DPW director said.

Police kept traffic moving, directing it over a single lane during the repair work.

The water break is the third problem the town has faced in less than two weeks.

The pumping station flooded Sunday, Sept. 25, after a catastrophic failure at the Humphrey Street facility.

Flash flooding swept away cars and filled basements in hundreds of homes in town on Tuesday.

The water break does not compare in severity to the earlier problems but needed immediate attention.

Cresta said the town has been keeping up with its water-line maintenance.

The pipe in that section of Humphrey had been relined about four or five years ago.

He suspects the outer, cast-iron pipe may have been eaten away, over time, due to the high concentration of peat in the ground there.