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Crews Work To Repair Wilkinsburg Water Main Break

WILKINSBURG (KDKA) - A water main break caused a big mess in Wilkinsburg today, closing roads and leaving businesses without water.

Around 5:15 a.m., an eight-inch main water line broke, sending water gushing down Wood Street.

Gallons and gallons flowed down the roadway between Franklin and Pennwood Avenues.

Police blocked off the area and crews with the Wilkinsburg-Penn Joint Water Authority worked quickly to turn off the water.

Once the water was shut off, crews were able to see all the damage.

Sections of the street buckled; and there was even a large hole.

Once the sun came up, crews brought in heavy equipment to make repairs and get rid of all the debris.

Along Wood Street, some businesses have water and others don't, like the James Flower Shop.

The owner there has to go to another location and fill up buckets of water for her flowers. Another business impacted just down the street is the Wilkinsburg Community Ministry.

"We won't even open up today," said Raymond Tolbert, of Wilkinsburg Community Ministry. "We do a lot of social service work for the community. There will be Meals on Wheels, but the rest of the programs will be closed until we can get some water into the building."

Tolbert kept a close eye on progress throughout the day, hoping to have service back up and running.

"It's always a big inconvenience when we can't do our job and take care of the people that we're here to take care of," said Tolbert. "There's a lot of people that will be coming in that might need food, emergency food or something and we're not there for them today."

Crews plan to have work wrapped up this evening.

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