NITRO, W.Va. – Around 300 residents of Nitro were without water on Sunday after one of West Virginia American Water’s main lines in the city broke, resulting in several homes and businesses becoming flooded.
According to Nitro spokesperson Joe Stevens, the break occurred Sunday morning, and both the Nitro Fire Department and WVAWC utility workers responded to the scene.
“They were on the scene of the break at 8:40 to shut off a 16-inch main water line,” Stevens said.
The initial call to Metro 911 came at 8:20 am, after which the Nitro Fire Department arrived at a residence on Dupont Ave. The fire department and utility coordinated to determine how many residents were affected.
“Captain Mathis discussed the situation with the on-site supervisor and determined the affected area. It was a square area affecting, they determined, around 300 customers,” Stevens said.
The affected water line was shut off around 8:40 am and work to reestablish water for affected residents continued throughout the day. After initially reporting that service would be restored late Sunday night, water started flowing around 7 pm.
“We got a report from American Water at 4:30 yesterday afternoon that the service was going to come back on around 10 o’clock. I started getting calls from city officials that live in the affected area, that they had gotten at 7 o’clock,” he said.
Flooding affected at least four homes, according to a statement by West Virginia American Water. The utility called in Servpro to conduct restoration work which is already underway.
“Servpro began restoration in the affected homes and the garages at some of the businesses that were flooded. They began restoration yesterday afternoon,” Stevens said.
West Virginia American Water reported the full reestablishment of service at 8:30 pm on Sunday.