Water main break floods Silver Spring streets, businesses

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- A pair of water main breaks along Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission service lines Wednesday caused headaches for commuters and business owners.

Crews repaired a ruptured 12-inch water main beneath the 8700 block of Flower Avenue, which affected some 30 businesses and half a dozen homes.

"The power is cut off. I have full of meat inside the coolers. And I have foods. And some part of my sacked food was on the floor because this morning was delivery. And it is big damage," said business owner Ali Faris.

"The amount of water that was coming, it was incredible. The rocks were flying. Rocks are all the way down to Piney Branch. So, the power of the water was incredible," said business owner Carlos Perozo.

All lanes of Flower Avenue were reopened just before 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Meanwhile, another broken water main has inconvenienced drivers along East West Highway in Riverdale. It took out three westbound and two eastbound lanes, WSSC said.

Repairs were expected to continue into late Wednesday.

"Both pipes, interestingly, 1925 they were put in the ground. 90-year-old pipes. Cold weather, hot weather. They're old. And they're well past their sell-by date," said Jerry Irvine with WSSC.

Days like this are becoming all too common for WSSC, which is dealing with more than 10,000 miles of aging water and sewer lines that cost more than $1 million a mile to replace.