Water main break cancels classes at Lincoln-McKinley

Students at Lincoln-McKinley Primary School in Havre got an extra day off from classes today when a water main break shut down water to the school and the residences on the block.

Havre Superintendent Andy Carlson said he received word about the break about 5 a.m. and the district notified families that classes were canceled.

He said faculty and staff are at the school and students will not have to make up the day.

He is waiting to hear if the break is fixed today, he said.

"If it's fixed we'll have school tomorrow," Carlson said.

Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said crews are out working on the break and will fix it as soon as possible.

The frost in the ground is slowing work down on water main breaks, he added, saying Public Works employees will have to use jackhammers to get to the break, but the hope is to have service restored today.

"That's the hope," he said. "We've got about four feet of frost to go through."

Warmer temperatures leading to breaks is common this time of year, Peterson said, as the frost heaves and pushes down, putting pressure on the pipes, most of which are very aged.

He said he does not believe the number of water main breaks is greater than normal this year, so far, despite the lengthy cold weather and amount of frost in the ground.

"Old pipes it just depends," he said. "With as cold weather as we've had, we've been pretty fortunate."