Cambridge Water Main Breaks; Lake Broadway Formed - PHOTOS

Cambridge Mass. - A major water main broke open late yesterday evening at the intersection of Broadway and Trowbridge St. - flooding Broadway from near Ware St. to near Ellery St. about 100 feet of Trowbridge St. and adjacent Joan Lorentz Park where it has now pooled close to the entrance of the Main Branch of the Cambridge Public Library. Some water from the park is pouring into sewers on Ellery St. but it is unclear as of this writing when the main will be shut off and how long it will take city and Massachusetts Water Resources Authority workers to drain the area. It is also unclear how much damage the new park and the parking garage beneath it have sustained. Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School - flanking the library and park on two sides appears unaffected thus far. Other parts of Cambridge - including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - are reported to have lost water service as the city works to temporarily switch over to MWRA water service. Neighborhoods close to the broken main experienced temporary loss of water pressure but it was quickly restored. On a lighter note a Cambridge police officer - when asked what the new body of water should be called - dubbed it "Lake Broadway." A name which will likely stick. Note: The City of Cambridge has not issued a "boil water" order for affected residents at this point (2:45 a.m.) but it may be prudent to use tap water for washing only until the situation has stabilized. 6/6/11 Update: the situation is back to normal for all but a few Cantabrigians near the break site. Utility workers did a great job repairing much of the damage and cleaning up the flood area in under two days. Joan Lorentz Park is open as are all affected streets - though all are covered in a thin layer of dirt deposited by the flood waters. It's still unknown how long it will take the City of Cambridge to repair the damage to the park and environs. Angelo's Pizza - located at break site - was heavily damaged and it's not yet clear whether they will be able to reopen at the same spot. Photos by Jason Pramas for Open Media Boston www.openmediaboston.org. Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2011 Jason Pramas. All Massachusetts commercial media may use these photos courtesy of Open Media Boston on the condition that all photos used are credited "Pool photo courtesy of Jason Pramas Open Media Boston." All other commercial media please contact Jason Pramas at jason@openmediaboston.org to discuss rates for use of these photos. Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati