Atlanta Watershed reveals cause of water main break in Buckhead, city issues emergency road closure

ATLANTA — Water service is back for hundreds of Buckhead residents after a water main break shut off services Thursday afternoon.

Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management said it was a 2-3 foot crack in an 8-inch water main that created the problems.

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The break was near Lenox Square at the intersection of Riverside Drive and Kingsboro Road.

While water services have been restored to residents, the work is not finished.

At 10:30 p.m., the Atlanta Department of Transportation implemented a road closure on a portion of Lakeside Drive NE to Sims Avenue NE to Kingsboro Road NE.

Channel 2′s Micheal Doudna spoke with a resident who described what the water main break was like.

”It reminded me of a river. It looked like a river flowing down the street,” said resident Molly Braswell.

The water spewed brown-looking water down the street, knocking out water to five apartment complexes.

Doudna also spoke with a resident earlier on Thursday who was hoping for water to be restored quickly.

”We have no water now. We hope we will have water later today,” said Yaar.

Thankfully, water services were restored around 8:30 p.m.

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Residents expressed concern that this water main break could play out similar to the series of breaks in June that put much of Atlanta into a water boil advisory for days.

According to a Department of Watershed Management, presentation to City Council members last December, 444 miles (16 percent) of the city’s water mains are 75 years or older.

Watershed management did not immediately know how old the water main burst today was.

Atlanta DOT said the road will remain closed until the repair is complete and provided the following detours that are in place to accommodate traffic:

• Traveling South on Lakeside Dr NE- Turn Right on Kingsboro Rd NE, Turn Left on Oak Valley Rd NE, Turn Left on Wright Ave NE, Turn Left on Lakeside Dr NE
• Traveling East on Kingsboro Rd NE- Turn Right on Roxboro Rd, Turn Right on Sims Ave NE
• Traveling West on Kingsboro Rd NE- Turn Left on Oak Valley Rd NE, Turn Left on Wright Ave NE, Turn Left on Lakeside Dr NE
• Traveling East on Wright Ave NE - Turn Left on Lakeside Ave NE, Turn Right on Sims Ave NE, Turn Left on Roxboro Rd, Turn Left on Kingsboro Rd
• Traveling West on Wright Ave NE - Turn Right on Oak Valley Rd NE, Turn Right on Kingsboro Rd NE

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