ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) – Crews are still on scene of a water main break at Elberon Place and South Lake Avenue.
The water has been shut off in Albany, but the city had to call in an outside contractor to help turn off the water.
The owner of the building provided NEWS10 ABC with a video from the top of his apartment complex, which had to be evacuated.
Officials say the car actually helped by deflecting some of the water for a period of time.
National Grid had to turn off the gas because the SUV was on top of the main gas line.
Crews had to pump out water from underground so they could get to a value to shut off the water.
The water was finally shut off at around 1 p.m.
The owner’s son says it was hectic when people were evacuated from their apartments. That building has 45 units in it.
“it was hectic we were running through the building with fire department and police and knocking on everyone’s doors, opening every door making sure no one was still in their apartment and making sure everyone was out in time,” George Shichen, co-owner of the apartment complex, said.
“The Fire Department has been taking readings periodically in the building itself which does not appear to be involved at this point. There is some undermining on the sidewalk in front, so we want to make sure there is in fact no gas leak and no gases going into there,” Deputy Fire Chief EJ Seney said.
One tenant, who came back from a 16 hour shift at St. Peters Hospital, has still not be able to get inside her apartment.
“Oh people are frustrated because they can’t get all their stuff. Some of them have cats they need to take out of their apartments. As you can see it’s kind of hard to do that with all the work that’s going on.”
The following streets are closed due to the sinkhole and water main break:
- Elberon Place from South Lake Avenue to Quail Street
- South Lake Avenue from Madison Avenue to Western Avenue.
City officials say the discolored water caused by the water main break is safe to drink and does not need to be boiled.
Residents are urged to run cold water, not hot, to eliminate any discoloration.
New piping is set to arrive on Saturday.
A CDTA bus was on scene for those displaced to keep cool. The Red Cross is also coming to the scene.
