Story at a glance
- A 48-inch main water pipe broke in West Philadelphia early Wednesday morning.
- The break has flooded 12 blocks.
- At least three buildings had to be evacuated, and one person was rescued from a basement apartment.
A water main break in West Philadelphia flooded several blocks in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood Wednesday morning.
The Philadelphia Water Department was notified of a water main break at 56th Street and Springfield Avenue right after 6 a.m., the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. A 48-inch main pipe broke at the intersection spewing gallons of water into streets.
Video footage of the flooding captured by ABC Philadelphia shows parked cars partially submerged and water falling into some homes.
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“It’s one of the largest mains that the City of Philadelphia has. So we’re talking hundreds, thousands of gallons of water,” Philadelphia Fire Deputy Chief Kamau Bright said.
A tweet from the Philadelphia Fire Department said dozens of firefighters responded to the main break and that at least three buildings have been evacuated, one person was rescued from a basement apartment and at least two more cared for by EMS workers.
Residents that were evacuated were escorted to SEPTA buses to shelter them from the cold, according to NBC.
The main’s break is the most recent example of how Philadelphia’s aging infrastructure is hurting its residents.
In mid-January, cold temperatures led to 30 water main lines breaking in the city, flooding cars and businesses in the Kensington neighborhood, the Philly Voice reported.
Older pipes are more susceptible to breakage and Philadelphia’s aging pipelines are, in part, to blame for the bursts. The average age of a Philadelphia water main is 73 years old and can last between 100 and 120 years, according to reporting from WHYY.
Many of the city’s pipes will soon age out of use. Philadelphia Water Department spokesperson Brian Rademaekers told WHYY that 821 miles of the city’s mains are more than 100 years old.
To prevent more pipe failures, the city pledged to replace 40 miles of old water mains a year, according to WHYY.
But the Philadelphia water department has failed to reach that goal and has only replaced 17 miles of mains per year between 2000 and 2019, the outlet added, and city officials promised to increase the amount of old water mains replaced in a year again in 2017 but still nothing has been done.
That number is less than 1 percent of the city’s 3,100 miles of water pipeage, Rademaekers said.
The Philadelphia Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability has yet to reply to a request for comment from Changing America.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to reflect additional information on Philadelphia’s infrastructure.
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