Bradenton street flooded after contractor drills through water pipe, city says

BRADENTON, Fla. - Bradenton city officials say all hands are on deck after a contractor working in the area hit a water line.

The city says residents will not need to boil their water following today’s burst water main, but those living near 59th Street West and 29th Avenue West did notice their water pressure drop after the mishap. 

"When I was in the shower the pressure was gone," said Laurie Sckena. 

Fred Ponder noticed it as well. 

"We were getting ready to make coffee and I noticed the stream was pretty low," he said. 

While on a bike ride, Laurie Sckena saw the problem, first hand.

It was a burst water main, near the city of Bradenton's water tower. 

"I've seen breaks before, up in the winter time in Pennsylvania. But this is pretty good. It’s flowing pretty good," said Sckena. 

The city said a contractor installing underground fiber with a directional driller hit the main. 

"A direction driller that was putting in fiber optics that basically breached one of our waterlines, it is the perfect storm," said Bradenton City Administrator Rob Perry. 

All of that water, and its force, knocked down a power line and a traffic light. Crews had to tear part of the roadway up to get to the main, as water trickled out of the faucets for nearby residents. 

"We are trying to do a bypass and minimize the amount of folks that are affected by service disruption," said Perry. 

By 5:30 p.m the city said water pressure was going up and residents should see an increase in water flow. 

The city said the contractor will be responsible for paying for their mistake. 

"This is an unfortunate situation these days we have a lot of fiber optics contracts working underground putting in 5g and other types of fiber, digital data links, and they are constantly under our underground," said Perry. 

The intersection of 29th Street West and 29th Avenue West is expected to be closed until Wednesday.

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