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Water main break
floods 2 basements
Chicago
Tribune - 1/22
A
water main break flooded the basements of two homes on the Near
Southwest Side Tuesday and could have been caused by a long stretch
of cold, dry weather, authorities said.
The
8-inch water main at 23rd and South Wood Streets broke shortly
before 5 a.m., Water Department spokesman Tom LaPorte said. Water
leaked into the basements partly because the neighborhood doesn't
have curbs, he said.
Four
other water mains broke around the city Tuesday, but none caused
significant damage, LaPorte said.
"In
a city this size and with a water system as sprawling and complex
as ours, there are water main breaks year-round," he said.
But
with freezing temperatures for the 12th consecutive day and no
significant snowfall this season, WGN-TV meteorologist Tom Skilling
said it's much easier for the ground to freeze.
"Snow
does have an insulating effect," he said. "Without it,
the ground is pretty vulnerable to freezing and so are the pipes
below it."
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