Water main break floods streets in Chelsea

CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) -- Repairs have been completed to a water main that broke Wednesday in Chelsea, causing major flooding.

All customers now have water service, but crews are still repairing the road.

Officials say a Department of Environmental Protection crew was working on the 48-inch main at West 29th Street and Ninth Avenue at about 10 a.m. when a plug failed. Water began flowing into the basement of several buildings, forcing crews to shut off some gas pipes and electrical service. They then had to shut down two other water mains to halt the flow of water.

West 28th and 29th streets between Eighth and Ninth avenues were closed due to the flooding, with firefighters checking to see if any buildings were damaged.

The break left a river a water flowing down Ninth Avenue, and firefighters noticed water flowing over the sidewalk and into an electrical transformer vault that would have impacted a post office and grocery store. But they were able to divert that water so electrical service to those buildings was not affected. They put sandbags and and other barriers in place to prevent further damage in and around the area.

The main was shut down and leak stopped, and police were rerouting traffic as repair work continued.

There were no reports of any evacuations to surrounding properties, but some water was shut off to the apartment buildings and some of the adjacent businesses.

There was no estimate as to how long the cleanup process would take, but it is expected Eighth and Ninth avenues would be blocked off for quite some time.