Huge leak under 7th Street floods roads
Footage shared yesterday showed a flooded road on 7th Street in Austin. This took place directly outside of Empire and could be seen from some distance. It is believed that the leak came from an underground water main which burst. Despite this, so far this has not caused any significant structural damage such as potholes so hopefully it doesn’t get any worse.
The video was originally shared on Reddit. Here, one user confirmed that the area had been cordoned off to the public for safety reasons. Others theorized the cause of the flood.
Responding to the leak, one user said this: “It’s very common right now. The soil dried out all summer and we got the first big fall rain last week so it shifted the soil quite a bit which damaged the main. Steiner Ranch had a main break too. More to be expected especially out east of town where the dried clay is now getting some sudden moisture causing it to expand.”
Interestingly, this isn’t the first burst main in the country this weekend either. We recently reported that Jersey City also had an even bigger leak that led to a large sinkhole. However, this was probably caused by too much rainwater, as opposed to the cause in Austin which was possibly due to a lack of rainwater.
