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Crews To Continue Repairing Water Main Break In Miami
The water main break occurred near NE 76th Street and NE 3rd Place in Miami
Crews continued to repair a water main break, which flooded homes in Miami.
Crews were expected to continue repairing a water main break in Miami Monday, which sent water gushing through the street and flooded nearby homes.
The break occurred near Northeast 76th Street and Northeast 3rd Place on Sunday, and in a matter of hours Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department crews were able to get the water main break under control.
Louise Pierre lives across the street from the water main and the water flooed her home. Some of her belongings were too waterlogged to be saved.
"I cleaned the backyard, I got so many garbage," she said.
Deryl Blankenship and George Bell spent five hours outside their home until they were allowed back in Sunday night. They're not sure which appliances still work in their apartment building.
"A nightmare, water everywhere," Bell said.
As water levels rose Blankenship immediately thought of a nearby power plant mere feet away from his apartment.
"Water and electricity don't mix," he joked.
For this very reason Miami Fire Rescue temporarily evacuated about a dozen homes near that plant, earlier in the day.
"Because the power was still on when it was raining, we weren't sure if there could have been electrical lines that may have come down. We didn't want people walking around in the water being curious electricity," said Lieutenant Ignatius Carroll, with Miami Fire Rescue.
As the water receded, tenants returned to their homes to survey the damage.
"There's a lot of stuff I got to throw out," on said as he opened his bedroom.
Men living at a home for disabled veterans discovered soaked carpets and kitchen cabinets with water damage.
"I got water inside my vehicle," said George Bell.
The Red Cross handed out food vouchers and offered hotel rooms to those affected. Some tenants living closest to the areas where flooding was deep said they would be spending the night elsewhere.
The Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department says fixing the 36 inch water line that broke could take another day or so. That's because of a set of trailers now sits above the area were the water main break happened. A crane is needed to lift and remove the large obstacles preventing crews from repairing the broken line. A crane is expected to do that heavy lifting as early as Monday.
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