UPDATE (Friday, 12:56 A.M.) PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — Crews continued to work through the night on Thursday to fix a portion of the 12th Street in St. Andrews after an underlying water main break.
City Manager of Panama City, Mark McQueen, said it all started around 3:30 on Thursday afternoon, when workers at local restaurants noticed they weren’t getting any water.
They came out to see water bubbling up onto the street at the intersection of Beck Avenue and 12th Street; when utility crews got there to fix the issue, the situation went from bad to worse.
“Oh my gosh,” exclaimed St. Andrews resident, Becky Nolan. “The dump truck’s actually in the road!”
Residents reacted from across the street when the concrete underneath a dump truck holding sidewalk pieces crumbled beneath it after a serious water line break weakened the asphalt.
“They were putting the concrete into the truck that was near,” McQueen said. “Obviously the water undermined the asphalt, unbeknownst to anybody.”
The dump truck was eventually pulled out of the hole, but McQueen said crews would be working probably until at least midnight to fix the break.
“We’ll do a hot tap into the water line, putting it back into service,” he said. “It’ll take us about 6 hours to get that done.”
He said businesses on the west side of Beck Avenue south of the Shrimp Boat Restaurant are without water until the line is fixed, and some are trying to stay positive.
“I think just understanding, also a little disappointment for our guests as well,” said Casey Suggs, Catering Manager for the Shrimp Boat. “Our wonderful city underground utilities crew is working very hard and very quickly to get us back online.”
However, residents said these issues are ongoing.
“It has been a repeat issue on Beck Avenue,” Nolan said. “It seems to flood more, and there seems to be a lot of problems.”
McQueen said he’s well aware and wants to fix it.
“This truly underscores again the narrative which is that we have fragile infrastructure in the city,” he said adding that the city is about to receive $113 million from the Department of Environmental Protection to invest in the utilities infrastructure, with more funding on the way.
“All of this funding is on the threshold of coming in; that’s fundamentally going to start addressing many of the issues,” McQueen said. “Not all, but we’ve got to start getting after these infrastructure issues in the city if we’re going to be the premiere city in the Panhandle of Florida.”
McQueen said the water line that broke is a ten inch pipe which is usually very reliable, so they’re unsure at this time as to why it may have broke. One employee with the Underground Utilities Department said it could have been due to all of the storms the area experienced over the weekend.
Meanwhile, crews continued to fix the issue well into the night on Thursday, with a boil water notice in effect for all homes and businesses on Beck and Bayview Avenues south of West 14th Street.
EARLIER UPDATES
UPDATE: A Precautionary Boil Water Notice has been expanded to all businesses and homes on Beck Ave. and Bayview Ave. south of W. 14th St. according to the City of Panama City Public Works Department.
PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — Panama City crews are working to repair a broken water main in St. Andrews.
It happened Thursday afternoon at the corner of 12th Street and Beck Avenue.
A boil water notice is in effect for the businesses in the area of 11th Street to 13th Street, and Bayview Avenue.
Some nearby restaurants have no water and have been forced to close. Surrounding areas have dropped water pressure.
During the repair, part of 12th Street caved in, causing a city dump truck to lean over. A tow truck was called to help push the truck up and to help remove it from the caved in roadway.
Crews told News 13 they expect to be doing repairs until at least midnight.
