A water main break has shut down several blocks of Broadway in Morningside Heights this morning. This is the third time this year that a water main break has caused chaos on the west side of Manhattan.
An FDNY spokesperson said the department responded to a call about the flooding at 8:30 a.m. around Broadway and 110th Street. "NYC turns into Venice. Better get a bigger boat," one person tweeted at the scene. You can see videos of the flooding below.
"Due to a water condition, all lanes on Broadway are closed between West 110th Street and West 113th Street in both directions in Manhattan," Notify NYC tweeted just before 10 a.m. on Friday.
"For THIRD time in less than 4 weeks, a water main break is paralyzing the UWS this a.m.," tweeted Council Member Mark Levine. "Scary result of our neglect of infrastructure in this city. This can not continue."
The flooding has not affected subway service in the area yet, but in some of the videos, water can be seen pouring into the 110th Street station on both sides of the street. Commuter Ben Vanden Heuvel told Patch, “The only way to get to my subway stop was to run through 3 feet of water. I hesitated a little but then I dove in.”
In mid-January, a water main broke on Broadway just north of Columbus Circle, creating a temporary lake outside of Lincoln Center and snarling rush hour commuters. Then a week later, another water main break occurred on Central Park West between West 102nd and 103rd Streets. There was also a water main break in Chelsea that partially flooded the L train station at 8th Avenue, and one near Union Square.
An FDNY spokesperson added that as of 10:30 a.m., the situation was under control. We'll update as we find out more.
