Huron's water main breaks explained

HURON — Two water main breaks occurred on Friday in Huron, leaving people without water and causing some neighborhood flooding issues throughout the weekend. The areas affected included those along Cleveland Road West between Fremont and Marion avenues. This included the city-named streets like Columbus, Pittsburgh and Sandusky avenues. Huron city manager Stu Hamilton explained what happened and assured all community members of the urgency his local government placed on this entire situation. Break No. 1 Staff was notified around 3:15 a.m. on Friday about a possible main break. The break on a 16-inch main transmission line was located and isolated by 4:45 a.m., by which time our fire department was on-site, attempting to pump down standing water. This break was repaired with a repair clamp. Water pressure was restored, and the affected area was put under a boil advisory. Our fire department was still on-site, attempting to pump down. The remainder of the afternoon, staff remained onsite to carry out the cleanup. Break No. 2 After the staff was stood down, at around 6 p.m. Friday, we were alerted to a second main break in the same area and the main 16-inch main was then isolated again by 7:15 p.m. Firefighters were back on-site, attempting to pump standing water. This second break was in the same section of pipe but slightly to the east, and we believe that when the first break occurred, it weakened the second section. This repair was carried out with a repair clamp next to the previously installed clamp. Staff cleared up what they could before midnight. Fire could no longer pump due to blockages. By 8 a.m. on Saturday morning, staff was back on-site with additional equipment to finish pumping out the standing water, which took most of the rest of the day. We had all staff called in to carry out this repair as quickly as possible.