Classes at nearby school delayed Wednesday due to water main break in west Charlotte

The Northwest School of the Arts will start on a two-hour delay Wednesday after a water main break that happened in front of the school Tuesday afternoon.

Charlotte Water crews responded to a water main break on Beatties Ford Road near Russell Avenue.

ALSO READ: Repairs complete 4 months after water main break impacted half of Charlotte

Transportation for students will be provided with all stops, but it will be on a two-hour delay. Class dismissal will be at the normal time, officials said.

Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over the scene around 5 p.m. Tuesday, where a car was seen stuck in the water. It appeared that the road had buckled around it. Other parked cars in the area were also impacted by the floodwaters.

A woman who works at the school discovered her car was surrounded by water.

“I just paid the last payment on my car, and they called and said there was a water main break,” said Sarah, who did not give her last name. “Everybody needed to move their car.”

Sarah said this was not the first time one of her cars was damaged at the school.

“I didn’t want it covered in water because a few years ago,” Sarah said. “That big tree in front of the school fell on my other car, totaled my car.”

On Tuesday, Sarah said water flowed from the ruptured water main to the school’s parking lot. She doesn’t know how much damage was done to her car.

“Hopefully, I will go have it checked out and it will be OK,” she said. “I just seen a lot of water coming down the road.”

Alan King owns and operates a barbershop that’s near the site of Tuesday’s break. The water cut off access to his business. However, King is optimistic the outage will be short-lived.

“I thought it might shut us down two or three days, but they said they should have the road ready within a day,” King said.

At 5:30 p.m., workers managed to cut off the water. About 50 customers were affected and water was expected to be back in service within 10 hours, Charlotte Water tweeted at 6:15 p.m.

In an update Wednesday morning, Charlotte Water tweeted that water was restored at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Officials said crews are rebuilding the road, and are using new soil and layers of asphalt.

Early Wednesday morning, Channel 9 could see crews working to repair the water line. The road was still blocked at 5 a.m. Wednesday with cones and caution tape while they worked.

The road will be closed through Wednesday afternoon while crews work.

Charlotte Water has not said what caused the break.

Detour:

• Drivers can take a detour onto LaSalle Street to Statesville Avenue to Oaklawn Avenue (or vice versa) through Wednesday morning.

No further information has been released. Return to this story for updates.