Water main break on Meridian St.

I came home today to find two blocks of Meridian Street blocked off by police cars. It turns out that there was a water main break at the corner of Falcon Street and Meridian Street. The damage was pretty amazing including a large sink-hole and also the road buckled in places. A witness--and by "witness" I mean my landlord's sister--described the water rushing down the street as "like a river." There was debris deposited for a block down Meridian Street.

Here is the kicker. The pipe one block up had been leaking on and off for months. There were wooden saw horses set up for a while, but there was a hole where the leak was coming out and the hole kept getting larger and larger. That leak was eventually fixed. So I'm not sure if this is something that could have been prevented, but it seems kind to suspect to me. Obviously, I am no expert on water mains and their tendencies toward breakage. I took some snaps of the aftermath which follow:






The sinkhole.







Looking up Meridian Street toward
the sinkhole from Condor Street.


Update: My water is now yellow. Whoopie!