Pipe break inundates Revere side street

REVERE – The water pipe that broke and flooded a Revere Beach Parkway side street Wednesday morning is one of the city?s oldest and slated to be replaced in a year, said city officials.The 10-inch water line cracked under the hilltop end of Walnut Avenue shortly after 4 a.m., sending water pouring down a steep hill on Woods Avenue.?The street was a river,” said Woods Avenue resident Margarita Espina.Espina said she grabbed a broom and helped sweep water out of her downstairs neighbor?s home. The water poured over a retaining wall between two homes at the end of Woods Avenue, sending large rocks and dirt washing down Woods, a short side street flanked by five homes.When Joanna Fiore?s dog woke her up Wednesday morning, she thought her home might be on fire.?I came out and saw floods and floods of water,” she said.City repair crews strung yellow caution tape in front of the retaining wall and brought in heavy machinery to plow away mud and rocks.A dozen Walnut Avenue homes lost water service while city repair crews dug several feet into Walnut Avenue to find the pipe and locate the break. Public Works Director Donald Goodwin said repairs were completed and water service restored by 1 p.m.Walnut Avenue resident Abdullah El Alami endured the lack of water service Wednesday and said his Revere neighborhood needs more city services.Goodwin said the cast-iron pipe is almost 70 years old and slated to be replaced. Ward 2 City Councilor Ira Novoselsky said the pipe has broken four times in the last two years and said Wednesday?s break underscores the need to replace it.?Hopefully, it will put the icing on the cake to get it done,” Novoselsky said.Goodwin said the break?s cause has not been determined, but he speculated that gradually thawing ground could have shifted the pipe and caused the break. Novoselsky said limited city money available for projects on the city?s pipe replacement list means it will take time before the Walnut Avenue pipe work is done.?These are probably the oldest pipes in the city,” Novoselsky said.Video courtesy Joane Fiore: