2nd Update: An update from Wednesday night at 8:35 said the following: “Water break at Apple Harvest and Winchester has been repaired… We want to thank both our staff and our partners who assisted today. This break was in a very difficult location in one of the busiest intersections in the region. Due to location of strategic valves only a very few properties were affected and they have been notified. Thanks for your patience.
This is just a reminder. Cold weather affects not only city water mains, but home water lines. It is supposed to be very frigid over next 10 days and frozen home water pipes are a real possibility. The best way to prevent frozen pipes in your home is to leave a steady trickle (not a full blast) running in at least one of your faucets overnight. The constant stream of running water will help prevent the pipes from freezing because of the steady movement.
(City of Martinsburg Photo)
UPDATE: City Manager Andy Blake says the location of the leak has been detected. “Once a flagger crew arrives and sets up flagging operations and equipment is mobilized, crews will begin fixing the break. In the meantime, all customers have water and Apple Harvest is open to traffic. Please use caution.”
MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — A water line break involving a 12-inch pipe is causing traffic headaches in Martinsburg.
(City of Martinsburg photo)
The city of Martinsburg reported the breakage and subsequent traffic issues around 10 Wednesday morning.
City Manager Andy Blake confirmed to the Panhandle News Network that the leak is somewhere in a 12-inch pipe in the middle of the intersection of Apple Harvest Drive and Winchester Avenue.
Blake said that they would be working with their emergency service and law enforcement partners at noon to shut down the intersection so they could use special equipment to ‘listen’ to where the leak might be.
A break happened at the same area last year and the city’s utility department installed Inserta valves on each side that can stop the flow of water in each direction.
Blake says that means that hopefully any service disruption will be minimal but as far as right now, no water service disruptions have been reported as a result of the incident.
Complicating the situation is that the temperatures since the leak was detected have struggled to get above freezing.
(City of Martinsburg Photo)
