Tribeca Water Main Break Causes Flooding, Closes Streets

Images from the water main break from Eyewitness News

Downtown residents and building owners got an unpleasant surprise early this morning when a water main broke at West Broadway and Duane Street at around 2:15 a.m. A number of buildings were evacuated and currently, the Office of Emergency Management reports, "Emergency personnel are on scene of a water main break affecting the area of West Broadway and Duane St. Duane St. from Hudson St. to Church St. and West Broadway from Reade St. to Worth St. are closed to vehicular traffic. The M20 Bus is being rerouted. There are no current impacts to subways." However, the MTA says, "In addition, due to a water main break in the area of the Chambers Street Station, please expect delays in service on 1, 2 and 3 trains and M20, M22 and X25 buses in both directions this time."

Authorities were able to shut off the 12" water main around 5 a.m. and start pumping water out of the flooded buildings—most of them commercial, according to WABC 7, which adds, "One building, a telecommunications facility at 60 Hudson Street, had four feet of water in the basement."