Water main break leaves St. George neighborhood without service for 9 hours

ST. GEORGE — Just nine blocks away from the last major water main break, on the same road, a familiar scene played out again Thursday night as the city’s aging water network broke down and flooded the roadway and nearby yards with thousands of gallons of water.

A view of the damaged pipe after city workers had drained and excavated the site, St. George, Utah, June 30, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Austin Hodges, St. George News

Workers with the St. George Water Department responded promptly, closing a stretch of 300 South between 500 and 600 East and shutting off service to the affected lines. The surrounding neighborhood went without any water for about 9 hours as the water main was repaired.

Austin Hodges, a local resident, related what his family members witnessed just before he arrived to see the aftermath of the impromptu flood.

“It was around 6 p.m. when they noticed the street was flooded clear across the road,” Hodges said. “The city had turned the water off by then, but it carried a lot of mud into the ditches, across the sidewalks and into yards, mostly on the south side of the road. One cul-de-sac was completely trapped because the water main broke right in front of the only exit and entrance there.”

The road sustained the most significant damage, with city workers tearing out two long stretches of asphalt and excavating down to the pipeline to get the situation under control.

The explanation offered to Hodges by city workers was that the affected pipeline was old and water had just worn through one component. This matches the explanation offered by city workers for two similar incidents preceding Thursday’s torrent, with some of the city’s water infrastructure dating back to the 1980s.

City workers repair a water main break in front of the Park Central Townhomes at 559 South 300 East, St. George, Utah, June 30, 2022 | Photo courtesy of Austin Hodges, St. George News

St. George News reached out to St. George City officials for comment, but had not received confirmation of any details by the time of reporting.

A nearby meetinghouse for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints opened its doors to those affected by the water shutoff, allowing residents to use their bathrooms throughout the evening, Hodges said.

Community members banded together and pitched in to assist with the clean-up effort while city workers labored into the night to get water back online.

“There was a neighbor up the street who brought a little excavator out to scrape the mud from the road,” Hodges said. “Someone brought a bunch of ice cold water out to the city workers, and the whole neighborhood was out just talking to each other watching the city workers at work.”

After finishing the emergency repairs in the dark, the work crew returned later Friday morning to make preparations to re-pave damaged parts of the road. Residents in the Park Central Townhomes cul-de-sac were finally able to exit in their vehicles thanks to a temporary fix by city workers.

As the second such incident in just over three weeks, and eight months removed from a very similar event that actually flooded one Bloomington Hills home, residents like Hodges are left wondering if the pattern will accelerate, or if it’s all just bad luck.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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