EVERETT — For the third time in the past month, freezing temperatures caused an aging water main in the city to break.
The 6-inch main ruptured at about 12:10 a.m. Tuesday on Oakes Avenue between 35th and 37th streets, said Kathleen Baxter, spokeswoman for Everett’s Department of Public Works.
Water flooded the street and sidewalk and began to freeze. A total of 35 homes lost water service, and one apartment had some water damage.
City crews worked until 3:30 a.m. to repair the damage and turn the water back on, Baxter said.
The ice won’t be completely taken care of until the weather warms up, but the crews addressed that as best they could.
“Our street department crews were assisting the entire time and they sanded (roads) or closed them altogether,” she said.
Temperatures fluctuating above and below freezing also were the culprit in two water main breaks that happened the week of Dec. 12.
The Dec. 12 breakage knocked out water service to about two dozen homes in the Rucker Hill area. A break Dec. 14 near Howarth Park didn’t cut water service.
The cast iron pipes from the 1940s tend to break under those conditions.
“With as many linear feet as they are, there’s always going to be the possibility,” Baxter said.
There were no main breaks caused by the cold last winter, she said.
The city’s budget includes overtime costs for emergency public works repairs. The final numbers for 2016 aren’t in yet, but Baxter said she didn’t have the sense they’d exceeded it.
After a water main break, people should expect the water to be cloudy or discolored, and should run the taps until it clears before drinking or using the water.
Chris Winters: 425-374-4165; cwinters@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @Chris_At_Herald.
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