200 Residents Affected by Water Main Break

Passaic Avenue will be closed between Kent Place Blvd. and River Road until further notice, according to the Summit Police Department. Crews from New Jersey American Water are expected to work into the early morning, to repair a 12-inch water main that broke Sunday afternoon, according to the Summit Fire Department. About 200 residents were left without water and a chunk of Passaic Avenue near Harvey Drive sunk into the ground.

Union County officials were notified of the situation and they will have to send inspectors to the site since Passaic Avenue is a county road, officials said. For three hours residents were affected in different locations around Summit, and according to police the water was restored by 4:45 p.m.

Jamie Iannone and his wife Elsbeth, of Ramsey Drive, said they called American Water to let them know their water pressure was very low. They were contacted around 3p.m. “We got a call back that there was a water main break and that a crew was dispatched to the location,” said Jamie Iannone.

Nancy Gorman also of Ramsey Drive said her home had “very light water pressure,” but had water.

On Division Street, Peggy Hagen said she was not affected.  “We have water and I’ve been running my washer all afternoon.”

However, there were others affected in homes on Colt Road and Springfield Avenue. John Krammer, of Colt Road, said he did not have water since 1:00 p.m. He said as soon as he found out about the break he came to the location to see what was going on.  He was amazed at the level of water gushing out and running down Passaic Avenue.  But when asked how he felt about the situation he said, “Not having water for one day is not going to end the world.”

The Grand Summit Hotel, on Springfield Avenue, which was at 80 percent capacity and catering a wedding, was without water for about two hours. Assistant General Manager Michael W. Marino said, “We got the call at about 1:00p.m. and went into immediate water-boil mode,” he said. Hotel staff had to boil all the water still in their system and provide bottled water to guests. Marino added, “In our guest rooms, we had a freeze on flushing toilets and taking showers for about two hours. And, although the water was back by 4:45 p.m. we will continue providing bottled water to guests all through the night.”

Fire Chief Locke said, “The call from New Jersey American Water came in at 1:16 p.m. and we found out there was no water in the hydrants at Park Avenue, Broad Street, and Summit Avenue. We called on eight towns, five with pumpers and three with tankers with 3,000 gallons of water for fire suppression.” He explained that the  extra fire department water tankers were necessary in case of a fire during the emergency, because there was no water available at hydrants at the locations.

Immediately volunteer firefighters from Berkeley Heights, New Providence, Fanwood, Kenilworth, Boonton, Roxbury and Bud Lake responded. The engines and tankers were staged behind the Summit firehouse on Broad Street.

Despite the road collapse on Passaic Avenue and Harvey Drive, residents near the hole that formed were not affected.

Battalion Chief Don Nelson of the Summit Fire Department said, “There were no evacuations, no residents reporting water in their basements and they still have water,” he said.

Tim Andersen, a resident across the street from where the water main break occurred said, “We are not affected.  I still have water so far.  I just wish the water would slow down,” he said about the water gushing down the street. “I’m going to get some water just in case.”

Tom Badenoch, a resident of Harvey Drive said, “I didn’t really know about this. I was in the house all afternoon and when I came out for my run I see this exciting problem out here.”

Passaic Avenue will be closed until early Monday morning while workers repair the main. “Residents have water now, but traffic-wise they will be impacted in the morning,” according to Chief Locke.