Milwaukee Dept. of Public Works said it could take up to a week to repair a water main that burst Tuesdaynear the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus Tuesday.
Public Works has to replace an entire section of underground piping along Oakland Avenue. Meanwhile, crews are still trying to determine why the water main broke, however they know this break was much worse than normal.
"What was unusual about this one was how close it was to what they call a feeder main," said Alderman Nik Kovac. "One small crack in this cast iron from 1936 basically ruined the entire elbow joint."
High pressure from the main break turned streets into streams within minutes around noon on Tuesday. DPW crews weren’t the only ones left cleaning up after the mess.
"It filled up the whole area," said Audeui Abdallah.Abdallah.
Flood waters pooled a block downhill. Nearly two feet of water surrounded Adballah's cafe.
"The water started coming up inside the basement and it was really crazy," he said.
Abdallah? said ??????café’s basement was about a foot deep when the city stopped the water. It saved his cafe and customers from main floor flooding.
"Thank God nothing got ruined and everything was good," Abdallah said.
Dozens of cars also took the brunt of the flooding. The aftermath had water coming out of Bryan Gorelik’s tailpipe by the gallon.Gorelik’s tailpipe by the gallon.
"I'm worried, I kind of need my car, it's pretty important to me, especially because I commute to campus," he said.
Xing Kang was still drying out his car flooring Wednesday afternoon.Xing Kang was still drying out his car flooring Wednesday afternoon.
"Inside it was about 2 inches," Kang said.
Kovac said he expects several vehicle and business owners to file claims against the city for damages.
