Water main break cuts off service to much of downtown Minneapolis
A major water main break in downtown Minneapolis at mid-afternoon Thursday cut off or reduced water service to downtown and a major swath of the city.
Workers were not expected to finish repairs until well into the evening after isolating the break. Traffic and buses service were rerouted.
The break was probably caused when an unidentified excavation contractor working for a utility company was working near the pipe shortly after 2 p.m., according to Marie Asgian, the city’s superintendent of water distribution. The break occurred at Hennepin and 2nd St. N., where a grocery-apartment complex is under construction. Water surged through nearby streets, and several bus routes detoured.
Workers on the scene said that an excavation bucket ruptured the main. The main is one of several major pipes carrying water across downtown to distribute through the city and caused a major impact downtown, with reports of lower pressure extending beyond Abbott Northwestern Hospital and to Lake of the Isles and University of Minnesota .
“We’ll work into the night, whatever needs to be done,” Asgian said. “Nobody is going home until this is complete.” The city said a four-block area near the break will take longer to regain service. That area is S. 2nd St.
The loss of water forced some businesses to curtail service or close temporarily. At The Crossings condominium nearer the break, workers attached a hose to a fire hydrant so the hundreds of units in the building could regain water.
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