Water main break blamed on frigid cold
A water main break on Lucas Avenue, which left approximately 100 customers without water since Sunday morning was expected to be fully repaired by 5 p.m. Sunday, according to city Water Superintendent Judith Hansen.
Hansen said water was shut off to whole top area of Lucas Avenue around 8 a.m. Sunday so Water Department crews could repair the break, which was the second on the street in a week.
“The Crews are wrapping it up,” Hansen said Sunday afternoon.
Hansen said the break happened Saturday night when the top of a valve blew off on a “crossover section” where another pipe from Dunneman Avenue intersects the Lucas Avenue main.
She blamed the break on frigid cold temperatures that dipped below zero Saturday night.
Crews have been working at the scene since 11 p.m. Saturday on a particularly difficult repair which involved cutting the broken piece out and making the repair, Hansen said.
Firefighters responded to a report of water bubbling up from the ground outside 310 Lucas Ave. around 9:06 p.m. Saturday night and they remained on the scene until 9:27 p.m, according to Kingston Fire Department Deputy Chief Wayne Platte Jr.
Hansen said her crew quickly assembled their equipment, but they
couldn’t get to work until the gas lines were marked by Central Hudson.
“When they have an emergency, we have to mark out,” Hansen said. “It takes them a lot longer for them to get out to mark out then we do because they have such a large territory.”
Even as crews finish this repair Hansen said their looking into possible breaks on John and West Pierpont streets.
She added that she hopes these repairs can wait until
Monday.
“These guys need a rest,” Hansen said, adding that when crews are tired it increases the chances of a mistake being made.
The break also forced officials to close Lucas Avenue between Catskill and Merritt avenues while repairs were underway.
Late Sunday morning Water Department crews were working with a backhoe, a dump truck and a pair of generators to repair the broken main.
A long brown strip of ice ran down Lucas Avenue towards Forsyth Park from the site of the break. The ice lined the snow banks and
even pushed its way up a few tree trunks.
“There was a lot of ice from this break,” Hansen said
Hansen said crews from the city’s Department of Works were helping to scrape and salt the roads that got iced over after the break.
Richard Jocelyn, who lives at 50 Court St., said he saw a torrent of water rushing down the street near the Dragon Garden restaurant when he came home from work around 12:15 a.m. Sunday morning.
Jocelyn said woke up this morning and he managed to make a pot of coffee before
he lost his water after 7 a.m.
Motorists were detouring around the closure using Catskill Avenue, Court Street and Merritt Avenue.
This is the second water main break on Lucas Avenue in a week. On Tuesday a water main broke between Emerson Street and Plymouth Avenue.
No water customers lost service as result of that break.