UPDATE: Minneapolis roads still closed, but restaurants open

A water-main break flooded a wide area of downtown Minneapolis on Thursday, affecting water service, closing businesses and snarling traffic throughout the city’s core.

About 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 3, private contractors working on a development project at Hennepin Avenue and Second Street North struck and ruptured a 36-inch water main that delivers water to a large portion of the city, Minneapolis officials said.

“I guess this is likely the largest (water main) in the downtown area,” said Steve Kotke, director of the city’s Public Works Department. “This is certainly the biggest water-main leak I’ve seen.”

A subcontractor working on a six-story, 286-unit luxury apartment complex going up at Second and Hennepin cut into the line while excavating with a backhoe, city officials said. The backhoe then fell into the hole as hundreds of thousands of gallons of water rushed from below.

The break affected water service in an area from the Mississippi River south toward Lake of the Isles.

Service was restored to all but six buildings near the rupture by 8:30 p.m. In total, 14 million gallons of water gushed from the broken main.

City crews worked for hours to isolate the break so that water service could be restored to the vast majority of affected customers. Because the ruptured pipe is a high-pressure “feeder” line, the city had to cut off multiple smaller pipes leading into it, some of them blocks out, to create enough of a vacuum to allow the feeder to be shut off.

Meanwhile, Public Works said Hennepin Avenue and the Hennepin Avenue Bridge would not be reopened for the Friday morning commute but might be reopened by the evening.

City officials worry the water might have undermined the roadway; if so, additional repairs would be needed before Hennepin Avenue can reopen.

In the meantime, large quantities of salt were spread on the roadway and sidewalks to combat the quick-freezing runoff in the midteen temperatures. Additionally, a city crew was dedicated to scraping ice off roadways through the night.

The water was deepest one block toward the river, at Hennepin and First Street, appearing waist-high in places at its peak. But at the site of the rupture, residents hopped through the ankle-deep water flowing around the largely submerged backhoe on the northwest corner of the intersection.

From there, the runoff flowed to the river and spread one block westward. By early evening, most of the water had drained off the streets.

Dave Whaley stared forlornly across Hennepin Avenue at his parking ramp, wondering how he would get to his car without getting his feet wet. He said he and his colleagues at the ING Building had been watching the action below from the sixth floor.

“I’m trying to get to another business meeting,” Whaley said. “We’ve been watching this from the sixth floor, hoping it would go down for some time. It hasn’t. … You’re not any good at giving piggy-back rides, are you?”

Several bus routes along Hennepin and Washington avenues were detoured, Metro Transit said.

The six buildings whose water remained shut off were all in a three-block stretch of Second Street North, from Third Avenue North to Hennepin Avenue. City officials said water likely would not be restored to those buildings before Saturday, at the earliest.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, overlooking the river and the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, sent all nonessential employees home after the incident, said spokeswoman Patti Lorenzen, who added that only “essential” staff will work Friday. The bank’s building did not suffer any water intrusion.

The Central Library and Mill City Museum also closed early. And the Guthrie Theater canceled its Thursday night performance of “The Servant of Two Masters.” Anyone holding tickets to the performance should contact the box office after noon Friday to exchange tickets.

Ryan Cos., which is building the $70 million luxury apartment complex and adjacent Whole Foods Market at the site of the break, confirmed that its subcontractor, United Sewer & Water Inc., broke the main while digging near the line.

“We are currently investigating the cause of the accident,” Ryan Cos. said in a statement. “We are relieved to report that no one was injured as a result of the accident and the site has been evacuated.”

Some South Minneapolis residents were dealing with discolored water.

Luule Abdi, who lives along Third Avenue near Interstate 35W, said her water started to turn a “brown, chocolate color” just after 3 p.m.

But city officials sent out a news release late Thursday saying the water was safe to drink, telling residents to “let the water run until the discoloration goes away.”