ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A water main break on Monroe Avenue caused significant flooding due to aging infrastructure, officials said. The pipe, installed in 1905, burst last night, impacting local residents and closing Monroe Avenue between Shepard and Rosedale streets.
Emma Faunce, who lives nearby, described the scene as “like a river” with water flowing down the street.
City officials said they first received calls about a leak around noon. A technician assessed the situation at 1 p.m., but the leak worsened unexpectedly, resulting in flooding by 9 p.m.
Hannah Summerfield-Gonchar, a resident of Luverne Street, said her dog alerted her to the flooding. “We went to the front door, there’s like everyone was standing on their porches and the whole street was filled with water, maybe like knee-high deep water already,” Summerfield-Gonchar said.
She added that her home began to flood within minutes.
“We ran out to the back and opened up the basement, water hadn’t hit there quite yet, but within a span of like 5 to 10 minutes it went from like no water to like rushing water into the basement,” she said.
Summerfield-Gonchar was unable to get help to pump out the water until 3 a.m. She showed the damage, including a sinkhole in the foundation and a wall pushed inward.
Another resident showed images of his basement, where water reached about a foot high, ruining family records and utilities.
Faunce also experienced water entering her apartment.
“The first thing I really noticed was that my toilet made a noise, and I went into my bathroom and I noticed that, like, some ground water was coming up through the bathtub drain,” Faunce said.
City crews worked on the road today, and officials said recent valve replacements helped reroute water smoothly. They emphasized ongoing maintenance to manage issues with old infrastructure.
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