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Water main break floods streets, forces boil water advisory in Carrollton neighborhood

According to the Sewerage & Water Board, the leak started at a dig site where crews had been working to replace a faulty valve.

NEW ORLEANS — A 30-inch water main broke and caused some major street flooding in the Carrollton neighborhood on Easter Sunday.

The water main break sent water rushing out of the ground and down the street creating a sort of mini-river near Audubon and Cohn Streets mid-day on Sunday.

According to the Sewerage & Water Board, the leak started at a dig site where crews had been working to replace a faulty valve. Workers reported a small leak at that site earlier and officials believe that leak may have caused the bigger rupture.

S&WB crews began work restoring water to residents on the block around 10 p.m. on Sunday and by Monday morning mostly all the residents had water service returned.

Interim General Superintendent of the S&WB Ron Spooner said that his teams worked as fast as they could to get water back to those residents.

"We're going to do the best we can to mitigate this problem as fast as we can," Spooner said Sunday. "I apologize for the inconvenience that happened today."

Some residents took the water problem in stride and even had a little fun with the inconvenient situation.

A boil water advisory has been issued for all residents who lost water pressure in the following area:

  • Cohn St. from Lowerline St. to the dead-end past Audubon St.
  • Audubon St. from Claiborne Ave. to Cohn St.
  • Audubon Blvd. from Hickory St. to Claiborne Ave.

Neighbors say that water came out so fast when the main broke that it flooded yards, forced them to move their cars and even got into some homes.

"We had water all the way to the stairs and in the basement," Peg Kane said. "We were supposed to be having people over. Forget that. We didn't go to church. We couldn't get out. This is just not how you expect to live."

It's not clear how much damage the water main break did to nearby properties. The S&WB asks residents to report their damage by calling 504-529-2837.

This is the second water main to erupt a large volume of water in little more than a week.

Last Thursday, water gushed out of the ground after a vehicle hit a fire hydrant at the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Perrier Street the night before.

It took Sewerage and Water Board workers several hours to begin repairing the geyser in that incident.

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