Boil Water Order Issued In Brockton After Water Main Break
BROCKTON (CBS) - A broken water main in East Bridgewater has caused a water emergency in Brockton and problems in some nearby communities.
A 24-inch pipe on Central Street broke early Wednesday morning and flooded part of the neighborhood.
The break was right under David Palmquist's driveway.
Within minutes, a sinkhole developed and his pickup truck fell in.
"I looked out my bedroom window and it looked like the Atlantic Ocean out here," he told WBZ-TV's Bill Shields.
"I ran downstairs, grabbed two of my daughters' cars, got them out of there, got my wife's car out of there. Then I went to the garage to get my truck out of there and all of sudden it just dropped down like five feet. I tried to put it in four-wheel drive, but it wasn't coming out."
The line runs from Silver Lake and is the main water supply into the city of Brockton. There is currently no water service to the entire east side of the city and the west side is reporting dirty water or low pressure.
The break is also causing water problems in Whitman and Hanson, where 100 customers on Main Street and Sydney Lane are affected.
Brockton Mayor Bill Carpenter declared a state of emergency at 9 a.m. Nearly three hours later the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued a boiled water order for the city and affected areas for the next 24 hours, or longer.
Read: Boil Water Order Info
Residents and businesses are urged not to drink or use tap water for human consumption for now.
Cases of water were distributed at the four Brockton middle schools. Brockton families will receive one case of water each.
A Brockton Water and Sewer spokesperson told WBZ-TV it will take a day or two to fix because of the size of the line and the rupture.
Brockton High School students were dismissed at 11 a.m. Parents of middle school and elementary school students were urged to pick up their children if possible, otherwise those children will be kept in school until the regular dismissal time.
At Brockton Hospital, they had to cancel some elective operating procedures as a result of low water pressure.
There is extra bottled water being delivered there. The hospital is also getting larger bottles delivered to help with the flushing of toilets.
There is no word yet on what caused the pipe to break.
