LYNN — A sudden sinkhole on Western Avenue near the Summer Street intersection snarled traffic Tuesday afternoon, forcing a road closure and disrupting nearby businesses, two of which reported flooding damage.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) said that while conducting maintenance work on a blow-off valve, there was excess water that caused sinking around the site.
Two businesses located on either side of the intersection on Western Avenue — Jimmy’s Discount Liquors and Neptune Laundromat — claim to have been impacted by flooding in their basements.
Nick Dilibero of Neptune Laundromat said he discovered the flooding on Monday and made the call to the Lynn Sewer and Water Commission, which directed him to contact the MWRA, who were “super responsive” and arrived in only 15 minutes. At first, he thought a pipe had burst in the basement, but it wasn’t until their crew got there that they were able to locate where the water was coming from.
“We looked in that trench cover, and the whole trench that they had dug up was filled with water,” he said, later adding: “Everything’s soaked down there. There’s quite a bit of a mess, but at least they sent a crew yesterday to deal with it. It’s definitely a shocker.”
Dilibero also noted that customers might be going elsewhere, given the number of laundromats in the area that now might be more accessible due to the construction happening outside.
“We’re getting customers in, which is good, but I’m assuming maybe some customers went somewhere else because there’s a lot of competition. So, it’s definitely affecting the business a little bit,” he said.
Prakash Patel, a partner and manager at Jimmy’s Discount Liquors, also discovered on Monday that the store’s basement had been flooded and had lost product due to water damage. The construction work has also impacted foot traffic to the store, as they’ve had to close the entrance on the “left and right side.”
Patel said, “We’re losing business because of the construction they started to do. They blocked off the whole street.”
The work is expected to take between one and two weeks to complete, and road plates will be placed on the site at the end of each workday to allow for the flow of traffic, the spokesperson for MWRA said.
While water service is not expected to be disrupted, the MWRA stated that some users “may experience slight pressure reductions,” and that water pressure will return to normal once the maintenance work has been completed.
