Buffalo Mayor Sean Ryan says crews are on standby in the event Saturday’s severe cold triggers more water main breaks.
Wednesday night, a 36-inch line broke under the intersection of Hertel Avenue and Military Road in Buffalo, causing flooding and forcing evacuations from vehicles and nearby apartments.
Ryan explained Friday that as temperatures change, the earth shifts and affects joints and pipes. It also doesn’t help that much of the city’s infrastructure is more than 100 years old.
“It's a real consequence of our over 100-year-old infrastructure system that has not been consistently updated over the years,” he said. “We're on a two part plan right now, trying to we're fixing what breaks then at the same time, we're putting us on a an infrastructure plan. They'll start taking out older pieces of infrastructure over the next few years, on a schedule.”
More than two dozen people were evacuated from Wednesday night’s scene, from vehicles caught in flood waters and from nearby apartments.
Ryan says the city’s integrated response plan includes its Department of Public Works, the water and sewer authorities, Buffalo Police and Buffaloo Fire, National Grid, and the NFTA.
Cold temperatures like what Buffalo has recently experienced are a prime time for pipe bursts. Ryan warns that springtime is another potential trouble time, when the earth thaws and shifts again.
“Once we get through this period, the next bad period is going to come in the spring, because right now the earth is frozen to a really deep level,” Ryan said. “Once we started getting the 40-degree days, that's where you're also going to see the expansion and the contraction and the earth moving around. And more breaks will be coming then. But we're ready for it.”
