FEBRUARY 26, 2015
BRADFORD, N.Y. (WIVB)
Frozen pipes and water main breaks are impacting communities
across western New York and northern Pennsylvania. The latest break is in
Niagara County, where one caused Lewiston Porter Central to close for the day.
In Erie County Thursday morning, there were breaks in the City of Tonawanda on
Main Street, and Town of Tonawanda on Ellicott Creek Road.
The Erie County Water Authority has fixed 50 different water
breaks just this week, and dozens more are on the list. When a water main
breaks, the water can flood the streets and quickly freeze, creating a sheet of
ice on the roads. This and frozen pipes are taking a toll on the area, during
this frigid February.
Several residents and drivers have been dealing with
problems; From a water main break that shut down Transit Road and Broadway last
week, to the one that forced the current State of Emergency in the City of
Bradford, to one that had part of Elmwood Avenue shut down Wednesday night, to
another one in downtown Buffalo, that flooded the intersection of Lower Terrace
and Erie Street.
The break downtown had drivers looking for help when they
couldn’t make through the intersection.
Thomas Augello said, “I went through it fine coming down.
When I picked up my mother and coming back out, instead of going right heading
back into it, I made a left and it was worse off. I was like two-and-a-half
feet deep in water.”
Down in Bradford, Pennsylvania, residents in the lower lying
areas are slowly getting water back after a big pipe burst, but not all the
fire hydrants are pressurized. People who live in higher elevations will have
to wait longer to have running water.
“There are 18,000 people affected and this is what Bradford
does, it’s like Buffalo when something bad happens, everybody comes together,
everybody looks out for their neighbors, it’s the exact same thing here,”
said J.D. Tehle, captain of the Bradford Fire Department.
For anyone who needs water there are four distribution
centers in the area:
City of Bradford Fire Department
Derek City Volunteer Fire Department
Lewis Run Volunteer Fire Department
Bradford Volunteer Fire Department