Detroit Streets Flooded and Frozen After Water Main Breaks

It probably won’t come as a shock after days and days of brutally cold temps, but Detroit is dealing with a wave of water main breaks, and some of them turned streets into straight-up ice rinks.

The deep freeze caused dozens of water mains to fail across the city, and on the east side, it turned into an ugly mess fast. Several blocks were pretty much frozen solid. Some residents ditched the road entirely and cut across lawns just to get out of their driveways. When people are driving through yards, you know it’s bad.

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According to Fox 2 Detroit, Detroit Water and Sewerage Department Director Gary Brown says crews are mobilizing and already responding. The first step is getting water off the streets so repairs can actually begin. He also thanked crews for working in these extreme conditions. And honestly, it’s hard to imagine being part of one of these crews right now, standing in freezing water while trying to keep the city running.

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Brown says the historic cold and shifting ground are basically a worst-case combo for old water mains, which explains why so many of them are breaking at once. The good news is that as of Monday night, no one was without water.