http://live.altavista.com/e?efi=929&ei=2148345&ern=y

Pipe Rupture Floods Part of Dallas

08:15EDT

09/05/00

DALLAS (AP) -- Commuters on Tuesday found flooded streets and some cars underwater downtown after a construction crew accidentally severed a 30-inch water main in this drought-stricken city. Members of a hazardous materials team had to help retrieve submerged automobiles from a parking garage and other areas where millions of gallons of water were estimated to have flowed from Monday's break. It also prompted the evacuation of an apartment building in a section of downtown Dallas.

No injuries were reported. But residents of the swamped apartment building were evacuated overnight as a precaution. Several downtown blocks remained closed Tuesday as water was pumped out of the area.

A crew drilling more than 30 feet below street level to install fiber-optic cable penetrated the 30-inch water line, city water utilities director Terrace W. Stewart said. The water line, owned by Dallas Water Utilities, was shut off a few hours after the break.

The leak happened as Dallas endured another day of stifling heat. It hit 111 degrees Monday -- the highest reading recorded in the city in September. The city has not received any measurable rainfall in more than two months.

No damage estimates were immediately available.

The Earle Cabbell Federal Building lost electrical power and was partially flooded by water that soon filled surrounding streets. In another building, water flowed through first-floor windows and broken glass doors. An underground parking garage below the Santa Fe Terminal Lofts apartment building was flooded with 12 feet of water. About 30 cars in the bottom two levels were at least partially submerged. "It was rising about an inch or two a minute,'' said Asa Cloin, whose car was lost in the garage. "There's a big drain in the bottom of the floor and it was coming up like a geyser.''

Also flooded were the A. Maceo Smith Federal Building and a vacant storage building.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), September 05, 2000

Answers

I'm baaaaaccck, and the AlGore Unit is due here today. Nothing like candidates to block the highways, which are already down to one or two lanes with the construction. My new tee-shirt: "Columbus -- You Can't Get There from Here!"

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), September 05, 2000.

Oh, yeah...my cousin's sister's hairdresser's vet said that she heard her plumber say that the rupture in Dallas is Y2K-related.

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), September 05, 2000.

No, kb, the water main did not rupture as a result of y2k, but many oil pipelines in the TX area did.

-- Whatever (who@car.es), September 05, 2000.

K, *sigh* unless folks 'actually' travel I71 South nobody will understand. :-( BTW, I myself didnt know how bad it was till recently.

Trying to make it to Brunswick was a tough haul, orange barrel express, know what I mean?

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), September 05, 2000.

My immediate thought was for the operator of the digging equipment and the crew. One minute they're sweating happily on the job under 111 degree heat, toiling along as usual, the next they're in cold sweat, as they realize what they did. Little heads and big heads will roll for that one.

Silver linings: no injuries, and the city flower beds got a good soak.

-- (smarty@wannabe.one), September 05, 2000.

Yeah, 'sumer, I know. The drive back was a nightmare and a half.

Hey, watch out for your pipelines up in Cleveland ... if it can happen in the summer in Dallas, it can happen to you with all that destruction that's going on downtown.

I hope the AlGore Unit has left the city. I really need to run some errands. Fortunately, I don't have to return to work for another day (fingers crossed!)

-- (kb8um8@yahoo.com), September 05, 2000.