Water tower pipe rupture causes more flooding in Hampton Beach
HAMPTON — Kagen Robertson had already seen flood waters ravage his Ocean Air Suites motel on C Street the weekend prior when suddenly his water stopped working Wednesday.
Within a half hour, Robertson’s friend sent him a video of water flowing onto Church Street from a leak officials say occurred underground near the Aquarion Water tower tank.
“Of course, at the time, it was like, ‘Just what we need,’” said Robertson, who owns the motel on C Street.
While the water main break drew attention on social media, officials say they shut off the line within an hour without significant damage. Aquarion Vice President of Operations John Walsh said the company, which uses the main to transport water near their Church Street tower, said the pipe was being evaluated Thursday.
Walsh said the pipe that broke leads into the water tower’s tank, which stands 151 feet high and is 50 feet in diameter. When full, the tank holds half a million gallons of water.
Walsh said Aquarion recognized late afternoon Wednesday that the water pressure had reduced, indicating a potential break in the line. He said staff closed the valves and that water has been redirected to customers impacted by the pipe break from other parts of the water system.
“Our guys were able to shut it down within an hour,” Walsh said.
Hampton Fire Chief Michael McMahon said he was not aware of any flooding in homes near the tower. He said the roadway was closed for about an hour, and the town’s Public Works Department was called to take care of ice on the road.
“This all became a non-problem by 6 o’clock,” McMahon said.
At the Ocean Air Suites, Robertson said he was glad the pipe break had become a non-problem. The fact that Aquarion addressed the water break so quickly, he said, prevented more
damage from piling on top of last week’s two storms.
“To lose water was like, ‘Really?’” Robertson. “But now that it’s back on, we’re just getting through it.”
Robertson’s motel was badly flooded in the prior two storms on Jan. 10 and Jan. 13. He said the flood waters destroyed the Ocean Air Suites electrical and hot water systems and displaced several winter tenants.
Robertson said the motel will be up and running again within the month. He said his business is not the only one hit hard by the storm.
“The majority of the beach, many of the owners… they’re scrambling right now,” Robertson said. “It definitely sucks, but we’re rebuilding.”