Several Boston streets closed after water main break in Chinatown
Police closed down several city streets after a water main break on Harrison Avenue Sunday.
Emergency crews were still working to repair the water main break at 66 Harrison Ave. in Chinatown around 10 p.m, more than 7 hours after water first flooded the streets.
“Parts of Kneeland, Tyler, Washington, and Hudson Streets will be closed and impacted until repairs are made,” Boston Police said in a message on X, formerly known as Twitter.
People waded through inches of water or leapfrogged from one dry spot to the next in order to get around the area.
“We were joking around earlier, we were saying that we were in Venice, Italy right now, with the water flowing right now,” said Fatima Ejaa from his new waterfront dining view. “No one could cross the streets, people were all stuck everywhere. We were all confused basically.
‘I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this,” said Melissa Newton.
As soon as Axel Winnemuller learned water was going to be shut off to his business, Café Darq, he began making ice and stocking up to be able to continue serving drinks once the ice and drink machines were out of service. He also bought bottled water for dishwashing.
Despite having a good backup plan, Winnemuller said he lost a lot of business Sunday.
“We probably lost half of sales,” Winnemuller said, “because as soon as the flooding happened, kind of all the foot traffic stopped. The whole street was blocked off on this end.”
At a basement-level market down the street, a company pumped out several inches of water.
The cause of the break was not known Sunday but Bagley said construction in the area could be to blame.
Bagley sympathized with affected businesses.
“It’s Sunday. It’s very unfortunate, but these things do happen. We have over 1,000 miles of water main in the city of Boston,” Bagley said. “Be patient. We apologize for this, and we’ll get the water back on as soon as we get this repaired.”
Boston Police said Sunday night that the streets may remain closed all night and Monday morning commuters should be prepared.
Traffic Advisory Update : BPD and @Boston_Water
remain on scene of a watermain break at 66 Harrison Ave. (Chinatown). Parts of Kneeland, Tyler, Washington, and Hudson Streets may remain close all night impacting the morning commute.— Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) August 21, 2023
WOW. Flooded streets following a water main break on Beach Street and Harrison Avenue in #Chinatown, #Boston. pic.twitter.com/4fPbpoNkYA
— Christine McCarthy (@ChristineMNews) August 20, 2023
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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