Beechview Water Main Breaks, Floods Homes
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Repairs are underway after an early-morning water main broke in Beechview.
It happened around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 700-block of Wenzell Avenue, flooding several houses.
At least six homes reportedly had water in their basements, some as much as several feet.
People in the area reported hearing water gushing and the break was initially thought to have been the result of a ruptured swimming pool.
Instead, it was a 6-inch Penn-American line that had broken.
"Got out here and seen the one side coming down and it looked like the Mon and the Ohio joining in my front yard," resident Mike Buyna, whose house flooded, said.
Thousands of gallons of water poured out and workers poured salt on the road for traction in the morning.
Buyna said he had what looked like a waterfall in his kitchen.
"It wasn't too great," he said.
The force of the water was so strong, that it knocked out one of Buyna's porch supports.
Unfortunately, Wednesday's water main disaster wasn't the first catastrophe to hit Buyna's house. In June, he says a 60-foot tree fell on his house. And in December, Buyna says another water main broke across the street from his house.
"There was a 90-foot geyser ... pretty much," he said.
Authorities capped the break around 1 a.m.
By Wednesday afternoon, most of the water had run off or evaporated, but clean up is underway.
There were some initial service disruptions after the break, but authorities were able to reroute the water.
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