LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) – For the second time in a month, a water main on Eastern Parkway broke near the University of Louisville campus. According to MetroSafe, the break at the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Crittenden Drive has left three feet of water in the roadway and flooded to Preston Highway.
Kelly Deering-Smith spokesperson for the Louisville Water Company says they shut the water valves off around 10:20 p.m. which is within about two hours of the break.
"It was gushing," said witness Josh Massingill, student at the University of Louisville. "When the water was coming out it was about 3 foot high, so now we've got a gas line shooting about 25 ft in the air."
A natural gas line also burst and has been spewing for hours. LG&E crews have been on the scene all evening, but had not shut it off as of midnight.
During the water main break on July 11th, more than 40 million gallons of water gushed out of a broken 48 inch main. 75,000 people were left without drinking water. Deering-Smith does not know how much water spilled during this leak.
"We have obviously another major break on another major transmission main," said Deering-Smith. "We believe it may be a 48 in main. It could be the same main that broke about a month ago, but I don't know that for sure."
Deering-Smith says it's too early to tell if there are major structural issues.
"We don't think so," said Deering-Smith. "You know mains break all the time, but a main break on a pipe this large doesn't happen that often, so to have two breaks in a little over a month is certainly concerning to us."
Several people who live in the surrounding neighborhoods have called the WAVE 3 newsroom reporting low water pressure.
Five houses were evacuated, but no injuries have been reported.
People living in the area say they're surprised by the scope of the damage, but not surprised about another water main break.
"There's a giant crater in the ground; it's pretty crazy just a big surprise and a little disconcerting," said Allison Vermilion. "My husband joked oh maybe there's another water main break and I said that's impossible we just had one and sure enough."
Perhaps what's more concerning is what the whole swallowed up.
"They just heard a big explosion and then the tree went down in the ground, the stop sign went down in the ground, and just crazy," said resident Kristy Stinnette.
What happened by that big crater is having an effect for several blocks, as one morning runner discovered.
"The sidewalks are covered in mud it's disgusting; I kept thinking I was walking on solid ground and then would sink down an inch or two which was pretty disgusting and no so great for my shoes," Vermilion said.
Perhaps the most shocking image is a jeep parked in the driveway right in front of the giant hole; just feet away from being swallowed up.
At 9:30 Thursday morning, a large tree was also reported to have fallen into the whole, due to what a spokesperson calls "unstable ground" in that area.
The water main break and gas line ruptured meant double trouble for this Stinnette.
"We got evacuated Thursday night and we came back early this morning because we both work and the gas was out and my husband couldn't get out of the driveway so we both had to call in work," Stinnette said.
She was worried about flooding, after water made it in her yard, inching toward her porch. She'll now likely spend Friday without power, gas or water.
"At least it's not 110 and we can open windows and go back to sleep," Stinnette said.
And now people in this area are concerned about their safety.
"It poses some problems without infrastructure that we've had two major breaks in such a short amount of time," Vermilion said.
Copyright 2011 WAVE 3 News. All rights reserved.
A car submerged by water on Maylawn Avenue (Source; Meredith Johnston)
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