Nutter: Water flowing again to most of Old City

The city has restored water to most of the Old City area affected earlier Saturday when a water main break flooded streets.

Mayor Nutter showed up to tell residents that they may still be experiencing low water pressure but water was flowing again.

"The water department has done an excellent job in shutting the main down in about an hour," said Nutter about the break in the 48-inch transmission main that connected to a 36-inch pipe that sent hundreds of thousands of gallons of water gushing into the streets.

He said most of the water had been turned on. "We are experiencing low water pressure for some of the homes in the immediate area."

Nutter said the city would do a full investigation to determine the cause and how this break compares to others that occurred this year in other areas of the city.

"There's really no consistency from one water main break to the next," said Nutter. "Some of it is certainly aging infrastructure but sometimes they get a hairline crack because of the amount of water and pressure which can blow a part of it out."

The Philadelphia Fire Department and members of the Water Department arrived on the scene of the water main break at 3rd and Walnut streets around 12:30 p.m, when water began rushing out onto the streets at least two feet into the air. Authorities blocked off streets surrounding the break, and authorities evacuated buildings between 2nd and 3rd on Walnut.

Water outages were reported as far north as 3rd and Green Streets in Northern Liberties, as well as in Center City and parts of South Philadelphia.

Mayor Michael Nutter arrived shortly before 2 p.m., where he posted a photo of the break on Twitter.com and said city officials were working on restoring service.

It's not clear how widespread the water outages are, or how many people are affected, but residents throughout Old City are reporting that they are without water, as well as some residents in Northern Liberties, residents as far West as 21st and Spruce and as far South as 3rd and Federal.

Nutter reported that three families were evacuated briefly.

Water service began to be restored in parts of South Philadelphia shortly after 2:15 p.m.

PECO spokesman Fred Maher said there were crews on scene to monitor the situation, but that so far there were no reported power outages related to the water main break.

The force of the water knocked over a mailbox and forced open a metal grate on the street. In some areas, standing water was reported. At Dock and Front Streets, Monika Maslany of Fishtown said she saw water half way up on parked cars.

Maslany and Heather Campbell, of Center City had come into the area to visit the Polish American Cultural Center at 3rd and Walnut:

When she got off I-95 they noticed water on Front and Dock forcing them to drive around it. They were soon encircled by fire trucks and blaring sirens.

"It made it a little more exciting. It gave us an adventure first with the water and then dodging fire trucks and finding parking," said Maslany.

Contact staff writer Allison Steele at 215-854-2641 at asteele@phillynews.com