What to Know
- A water main break on the Upper West Side flooded streets and basements, cut water to apartment dwellers and sunk an SUV
- A movie theater seven blocks away from the break had brown water
- Crews were working to repair the water main, which is believed to have broken due to age or weather
A water main break on the Upper West Side flooded nearby streets and basements, cut water to multiple apartment buildings, and sent an SUV plunging into an Amsterdam Avenue sinkhole.
The water line ruptured along Amsterdam, between 89th and 90th streets, on Monday night. The avenue was still closed between 88th and 91st streets Tuesday morning. M7 and M11 buses were diverted and traffic was pushed away.
A white BMW SUV was only partially visible at the 90th Street intersection, half of its body sunk beneath crumbled asphalt.
DEP crews were able to reroute the flow of water around at 11:30 p.m. but still needed to repair the broken water main ahead of the Tuesday morning rush. Crews were still working on the fix just before 6 a.m. Con Edison was at the scene as a precaution in case of any gas leaks.
The fire department checked basements in the area and found a number of them inundated with 5 to 6 feet of water.
At least two high-rise apartment buildings were without water Tuesday morning, as was the 84th Street AMC movie theater seven blocks away.
The water was brown at the theater earlier in the night and employees couldn't figure out the cause.
"We didn't know why the water was brown," said employee Kevin Lewis. "I sent an email to the entire management crew to monitor the water in the building."
Officials are investigating whether it was the age of the pipe or weather that caused the break.
Local
As many as 250 water customers were still without potable water as of Tuesday afternoon.
