Water main break floods Bangor

BANGOR – A major water main burst Thursday night, sending water cascading into the city’s downtown, leaving some without water for hours and prompting workers to scramble to make repairs.

Large pools of water formed in the center of the downtown, slowing traffic and making walking a soggy proposition in many places. One restaurant reported that expected high sales on St. Patrick’s Day petered out because there was no water to cook and clean.

It wasn’t clear how much water was flowing downtown, but a Bangor Water District official called it substantial. The pipe that burst was a 12-inch main at the intersection of Franklin and Hammond streets that carried water from the Thomas Hill Standpipe, which holds 1.75 million gallons.

Two hours into the break Chuck Spencer, assistant construction supervisor, said he had been told the water level at the standpipe dropped 5 feet.

“That’s a lot of water,” said Spencer, who didn’t even want to estimate how much water that meant. Spencer said that likely a joint on the pipe broke because of frost. Workers sought to close 18 to 20 valves around the downtown area to stop the water, have it rerouted and in some cases restore water to some areas.

A section of the crosswalk on Franklin Street buckled under the pressure of the water, and a city official who happened to be running in the area shortly after it burst said water was heading down Franklin and Hammond streets.

Ryan King, who sits on the Bangor City Planning Board, was jogging down Main Street shortly after 7 p.m. when he noticed water streaming down Hammond Street along the side of Epic Sports. King ran to the store, sloshing through the new stream that had yet to reach its full flow, to alert employees inside the sporting goods store.

King and others then took barricade barrels left in the area by construction crews and placed them strategically around the broken main area. At that time water was flowing in both directions.

“All of Franklin Street bridge was covered with water,” said King, whose own residence on Columbia Street was without water. Later, King noticed changes in the road, another section had buckled, and water no longer flowed down Franklin Street. Instead it surged underneath a section of Hammond Street and could be seen re-emerging about 20 feet down the road and sidewalk, flowing heavily the rest of the way downtown.

At Thai Siam, a restaurant located at the corner of Main and Hammond streets, there was no water to cook food and waitress Trerawan Pariyanont watched as the night’s anticipated revenues washed away. She said only three tables were in use when the flooding began. By 8:30 p.m., a half-hour before closing, the restaurant was empty.

It was a different story across Main Street at West Market Square where the Whig & Courier was packed for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Maybe it was the luck of the Irish, but the flooding proved little more than an interesting anecdote for those inside.

“We had a little drop in water pressure, but we’re OK,” said the pub’s owner, Chris Geaghan.

For Rachael Bodkin-Rubino, whose boyfriend’s band, Napper Tandies, was performing at the Whig and was then scheduled to head to the Bear Brew Pub in Orono, the flooding added a twist to the logistics of getting from one venue to the other.

With about 35 minutes to go before the band was to be in Orono, she surveyed the ponds of water and wondered whether she would be able to get to her car a few streets over, closer to the Kenduskeag Stream, where there was more flooding. Optimistic, she walked toward her car.

“We’ll get through this; we’ve been through worse,” said the Brewer native who now lives in South Portland, a section of the state that snowstorms hammered recently.