News you can use
News you can use
School buses rerouted today
Water and ice flow down a blocked-off Ninth Street after the water tank at the top of the hill sprung a leak and flooded much of the surrounding neighborhood Tuesday in Havre. Public Works employees are working to fix the issue and clear the slushy streets.
Mud covers the back of a dump truck as a crew from Havre Public Works digs a hole to reach a water line Tuesday.
Water drains from a valve in the east side water tank Tuesday in Havre. There were about 10 feet of water remaining in the tank at 10:00 a.m.
A public works employees drives through a neighborhood to clear the slush that has formed on most streets east of Fifth Avenue Tuesday in Havre. Crews were using heavy machinery to clean up the massive amounts of ice and water that have flooded the streets.
Jason Morehouse peers into a pit as he operates a backhoe to find a water main Tuesday in Havre.
Water and dirt mix as the public works department digs to fix a water line Tuesday in Havre.
Jack Teske uses a spade to clear gravel and dirt away from a water line as public works employees attempt to fix water problems in a neighborhood east of Fifth Street Tuesday in Havre.
A major water leak detected yesterday at 3 p.m. in the water tank located on the east end of Havre and has shut down streets and rerouted Havre Public Schools buses.
Havre Public Works Director Dave Peterson said the water is leaking from a new manway, a metal access port.
Public Works recently finished Phase Two of the city water tank maintenance plan, recoating the east water tank last year and recoating the west in 2017.
Peterson said his department does not yet know what caused the leak.
The east tank is a 3.5 million gallon tank, Peterson said, with 56 feet of water. He said this morning that at approximately 7 a.m. there was about 10 feet remaining. He added that as the tank drains the speed of the water coming out slows due to reduced pressure.
He said he hoped the tank would finish draining sometime this morning, he said.
Peterson said the city closed as section from Sixth Stree to Ninth Street from Sixth Avenue to Ninth Avenue.
He said there is a large amount of ice and slush that has collected on those streets and Public Works would prefer to have it removed before the temperature gets below freezing again.
An engineer is coming today to inspect the tank, he said, although the tank will need to be fully drained before any work can be done.
No water damage has been detected in town, Peterson said, with Public Works keeping most of the water on Sixth Avenue and running into the storm drain.
"We're in pretty good shape," he added.
He said he is unaware of what may have started the leak, although an assessment will be made once the tank is empty.
Havre Public Schools announced this morning that school buses that normally run from Sixth Avenue and Ninth Street through Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue would run on Fifth Avenue today only.
Havre Public Works has been dealing with snowy streets and water main breaks for the last month. North-central Montana had its second-coldest February on record and Havre received its fourth-highest snowfall on record for the month, 17.5 inches. With temperatures rising into the 30s, snow that accumulated during the bitterly cold and snowy February is melting rapidly and lightly refreezing overnight.
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