Large water main break floods street in Pittsburgh's Banksville neighborhood
A large water main break flooded a busy intersection in Pittsburgh's Banksville neighborhood on Wednesday morning.
The water main break at the intersection of Banksville Road and Potomac Avenue near the BP gas station flooded homes and businesses.
"As far as we know, there was two houses flooded and about 4 inches of water in the basement," said Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones.
Photos from the scene show a large crack in the road. Natural gas could be smelled at the scene, and Jones said Columbia Gas is looking into whether a gas line was broken when the street ruptured.
There's also a "substantial amount" of oil coming out of one of the properties, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has been contacted, Jones said.
"It caught us off-guard," said Randy Keller, who works at Steve's Auto Interior Repair & Detailing on Potomac. "We were inside working, detailing cars and a lady comes in and said there's water gushing down the street.
Keller said it took about 45 minutes before Pennsylvania American Water was on scene to shut off service. The auto repair shop had a few cars parked in the rear entrance when Keller said a foot of water came rushing in.
"Then the water just kept going up and kept getting deeper out here," Keller said. "We've got a couple cars that are flooded. My personal car over here got flooded. But it could've been worse."
"It just kept getting worse and worse cause it didn't get shut off for at least half an hour, 45 minutes. Then the water just kept going up and kept getting deeper out here. We got a couple cars that are flooded," said Randy Keller at the nearby autobody shop.
Pennsylvania American Water is working on the problem and says many people from the Banksville area to Green Tree may experience low water pressure or no water at all.
Jones said fire hydrants in the area will also be down, but the fire department has added extra resources in case any fires happen nearby.
