After surviving days of sub-zero temperatures with no damage to infrastructure, the city of Chadron’s luck ran out yesterday morning when a water main broke in the 700 block of East 6th Street – sending water running north on Cedar Street.
City Manager Tom Menke said city crews had the water to the main turned off by mid-afternoon, but that some water would continue to flow for some time simply because of the overall volume.
Menke said street crews worked with crews from the Utilities Department to keep the flowing water in the curb and out of the traffic lanes on Cedar State, but that the extreme cold has made the affected area more treacherous for drivers.
As a result, he continued to ask drivers to avoid that area of town and to use even more caution than usual if they can’t – such as today when schools reopen after being closed since Thursday.
Chadron High School is just south of the affected area on Cedar Street while Chadron Middle School is a couple blocks to the west on 6th Street.
The extreme cold appears to have been one of the major causes of the problem because the pipe didn’t break – two sections came apart where they were joined.
Menke says the cold likely led to the shifting of the base material under the pipe, with the age of the pipe an issue as well.
Chadron has been replacing some of its older water mains around the city for several years, in part because of potential issues relating to the age of the pipes.