A broken water main in Times Square left streets in the popular tourist spot flooded and disrupted service on one of the busiest subway lines right during the peak of the morning commute, city officials said.
The high pressure water main broke around 3 a.m. Tuesday, according to NYC Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Rohit Aggarwala. The 20-inch pipe that dates back to 1896 broke at Seventh Avenue near West 40th Street.
What caused it to break was not immediately clear, said Aggarwala, but crews were on the scene and were able to shut off all the water in about an hour. But before that occurred, water filled streets in the area, as well as the nearby subway station.
Before the water was stopped, the MTA said roughly 1.8 gallons had flooded down into the subway station and made a mess of service.
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The DEP didn't expect there to be widespread impact on businesses because many buildings in the area have redundant water lines. The pipe will have to be excavated in order to determine if there were other utilities damaged in the process, according to Aggarwala. There were no reports of other utilities, like gas and electric, experiencing any problems as a result of the break.
What did experience problems was the nearby subway lines, specifically the 1, 2 and 3 line, according to the MTA. The transit agency advised riders to avoid the line almost entirely, particularly in Manhattan, as all service along the line was impacted. There were no 1 or 2 trains running on that line between Chambers Street and West 96th Street; service for 3 trains was suspended in both directions between Manhattan and Brooklyn, the MTA said.
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Transit President Rich Davey said that water ran all the way down to the 23rd Street and 14th Street stations, and they were experiencing subway problems as a result.
Subway service was restored just before 11 a.m., nearly eight hours after the water main burst, and the MTA said at a press conference that evening commutes were expected to return to normal. Some additional repair work is expected to take place overnight.
Officials said that streets in the area near the break would likely be closed for much of the day. Part of Seventh Avenue between 39th Street and 42nd Street were closed for hours, as was 40th Street between Sixth Avenue and Eighth Avenue, the NYC Office of Emergency Management said.
