Broken Water Main Floods Street In South Lawndale, Causing Icy Mess

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A large water main break caused an icy, slushy mess on a South Lawndale street leading to the Stevenson Expressway during the Monday morning rush.

A watery mess near 33rd and Pulaski was turning into a sheet of ice amid single digit temperatures early Monday. The break happened not far from the Pulaski entrance ramps to the Stevenson Expressway.

Water Department spokesman Gary Litherland confirmed a 16-inch water main broke Monday morning. The main was shut off between 31st and 33rd streets, but not before a couple inches of water had flooded the street, and begun to freeze.

Around 7:15 a.m., snow plows and police cruisers blocked off Pulaski between 32nd and 33rd, and plows began breaking up the large swaths of ice on the street. It was unclear how long it would take to make repairs to the broken main.

One man who lives on the block said the water came all the way up to his front steps by 5 a.m., and he was asked to get his car out of the street before the water could freeze.

Litherland said there were no reports of water getting into homes in the area.