127-year-old water main gives way under NYC's Times Square, flooding streets, subways

A 127-year-old water main under New York's Times Square gave way early Tuesday, flooding midtown streets and the busy Times Square subway station.

The 20-inch (half-meter) water main gave way under 40th Street and Seventh Avenue at 3 a.m., said Rohit Aggarwala, commissioner of New York City's Department of Environmental Protection.

It took DEP crews about an hour to find the source of the leak and shut the water off, Aggarwala said.


The excavation left "a big hole at the intersection of 40th Street and Seventh Avenue," he said.

While that intersection remained closed to car traffic, surrounding streets were open by rush hour.

Subway service, however, was suspended through much of Manhattan on the 1, 2 and 3 lines, which run directly under the broken pipe.

Aggarwala said it appeared that only two local businesses were without left without water at the start of the work day.