NEW YORK — Water filled the streets and cars were nearly submerged following a massive water main break overnight in Long Island City, Queens.
As CBS2’s John Dias reported, it’s not going to be a fun morning for many on Vernon Boulevard, which looked more like a river than a road. Several cars are submerged in the water, no doubt many now ruined.
The water started flooding the area by 41st Street around 2 a.m. Tuesday.
Crews frantically tried to shut off the water to the surrounding area to stop more from pouring out. It finally started receding about two hours later.
CBS2
In January 2021, the same area had a similar issue with a water main break just like this.
Neighbors told CBS2 crews came and repaired the line, but said it seems they may not have done a good enough job, since it appears the same line is busted again.
“This time, the water is actually coming out worse than last year. I feel sorry for a lot of people that got new cars, because they’re flooded out,” one person said. “The pipeline first busted, water came out, it wasn’t this bad. But now, I don’t know, there’s all this brown stuff coming out. So I don’t even know what’s in that water, but it’s real bad this year.”
Crews are still working on what exactly caused the break, and it’s still unclear how many cars were damaged.
Stick with CBS2, CBS News New York and CBSNewYork.com for more on this developing story.