WESTFORD — Grove Street in Westford was closed off Monday morning after a water main break triggered a flood, causing the road to buckle and collapse.
According to Westford Public Works Director Kyle Fox, the water main broke round 6:30 a.m. Monday, heavily damaging the road.
“The water main break caused pretty severe damage to our road,” Fox told WestfordCAT. “Crews right now are working to remove the damaged pavement from the roadway so that we can assess the state of the utilities. We will work to get the water line back up and running and the gas line up and running.”
Shortly after 7 a.m. Monday, the Westford Police Department alerted residents via social media that Grove Street between Knoll Road and Oak Hill Road was closed due to the water main break, which made Grove Street impassable as a result of the damage.
Oak Hill Road between Nabnasset Street and Plain Road was also closed, police said, as the flooding from the ruptured water main partially flooded the roadway.
Grove Street resident Steve Jacques told WestfordCAT he woke up around 6:30 a.m. and was unable to use the water in his bathroom. He said he then looked outside and saw what he described as “a geyser” coming out of the broken roadway. He said he also lost power for “at least a couple hours”.
WestfordCAT was at the scene of water main break and saw that a large section of Grove Street had buckled and collapsed, leaving large holes filled with muddy floodwater. Floodwater and mud had also spilled down on to Oak hill Road and covered the roadway.
“This was the pressure from the water main, thousands of gallons of water rushing beneath the pavement eroded the subbase to the road, and caused the road to collapse, and all the material ended up down here at the bottom of the road, which led to the catastrophic nature of this failure,” Fox said.
Fox said the water main running beneath Grove Street was not replaced as part of the Oak Hill, Plain Road, and Moore Road Water, Stormwater, and Transportation Infrastructure Improvement Project.
“The Oak Hill Project did not go up Grove Street,” Fox said. “So this is probably 1940s infrastructure.”
Fox said the pipe’s old age and the changing temperatures this time of year, likely were contributing factors to the water main break.
“It was an old pipe,” Fox said. “This time of year with freeze/thaw cycles, these pipes tend to be more prone to failures, but we’re still in the assessing period, so we don’t know exactly what caused this one yet.”
Around 9:45 a.m. Monday, police said crews from public works and the town water department, as well and National Grid gas and electric crews were at the scene to asses the damage and begin clean up work.
“Residents in the area will experience a loss of water, low pressure, and discoloration for a number of hours,” police said. “Despite the discoloration, the water is safe to drink and use. Updates will be provided as the damage is assessed.”
WestfordCAT saw workers at the scene using front loaders to dig up the debris and move it out of the way and into dump trucks, while other workers were using shovels to clear the remaining debris off the roadway.
While the water appeared to be shut off by 11 a.m., WestfordCAT saw large puddles of muddy water on Grove Street and Oak Hill Road.
One resident, who lives near the corner of Grove Street and Oak Hill Road and wished to remain anonymous, said his basement and garage were flooded with muddy water, damaging much of his personal belongings.
Other residents, Arnie Price and Linda Edelblut, said they lived nearby but were not affected by the water and power outage, and came over to see what was going on after seeing the large police presence in the area.
“I got a text, and then I heard all the noise in my house and I was wondering what was going on,” Price said.
“We saw a lot of police cars coming in early this morning,” Edelblut said. “My husband was on Facebook and saw the Westford news that there was a water main break, the road was closed, we saw a helicopter, and then my son wanted to come see the trucks.”
Police are advising all residents to avoid the area and seek alternate routes.
Officers at the scene set up a detour on Oak Hill Road and redirected traffic around the closure while crews worked to repair the water main and clean up the damage.
Shortly after 6 p.m., police said water and gas service was restored to residents in the are, and shortly before 7 p.m., police said Oak Hill Road was reopened to traffic, with Grove Street remaining closed to everyone other than residents and emergency vehicles. Work to repair the road is expected to continue into Tuesday morning.
