UPPER WEST SIDE – A water main broke near 96th Street and Central Park West on Wednesday evening, quickly flooding the whole block and forcing authorities to shut down electricity and water in the area for several hours, officials and residents said.
“We heard water flowing for a while. Eventually we looked out at the window and that's when we saw a river on a road, it looked scary,” said Nadia Lekhiv, a 27-year-old nursing student who lives a few yards away from where the water pipe broke.
“I was afraid the whole thing was going to collapse, I had my passport ready and a change of clothing packed just in case. Luckily it's all good.” Lekhiv said.
"There was so much water it was apocalyptic,” said Marie Paule Martin who was on her way back home when the street started to flood.
The incident created large cracks on the road, witnesses said.
The water main leak was reported around 7 p.m between 95th and 96th streets and Central Park West, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection said. The pipe was replaced and the problem was solved a little after midnight, she said, adding that two buildings had their water shut down and one building also had electricity cut off for a few hours while the repairs were ongoing.
Some residents believe the incident is connected to the water leaks they’ve been noticing on the downtown B and C platform at the 96th Street station, located right below where the water main broke.
“Honestly I wasn’t surprised,” Martin said. “It’s been leaking for months, it was just a matter of time before it would leak on the road too."
At least two complaints had been filed with 311 about the issue on Feb. 25 but the DEP inspected the scene and did not find anything, according to the 311 website.
The DEP said it was not aware of the subway leaks. The MTA did not immediately return a request for comment.
