NW Houston restaurants, businesses pick up pieces after water main break forces temporary shutdown

HOUSTON – A day after a water main broke in northwest Houston Thursday morning, flooding parts of the streets, restaurant and business owners are hoping to reopen their doors after a temporary setback.

PREVIOUS: More than 30 billion gallons of Houston water wasted from leaks across the city

A spokesperson for Houston Public Works first told KPRC 2′s T.J. Parker over the phone Thursday morning a contractor working for an electric company hit a water line. For that reason, many utility lines were also seen on the ground.

Crews were seen making repairs in the Washington Avenue Corridor starting around 4 a.m. on the corner of Yale and Center Street. Video shows the flood waters are quite deep but it’s also unclear how long the water had been flooding.

We’re also told several cars and businesses were flooded as a result and the main gushed thousands of gallons of water until about 5 p.m. Thursday.

Several restaurants in the area, whose owners spoke to KPRC 2, including our Deven Clarke, who arrived to find crews still working Thursday evening, said they were forced to close temporarily.

“With our patio that has brought in mud, trash and whatnot and when we pulled up this morning we couldn’t even get in the business because there was ankle deep water standing everywhere,” said Alex Moghaddam, owner of La Vita Coffee and Burger Vibe.

The business owner also noted he is certain the crew responsible for the break was contracted through a company that CenterPoint Energy contracted. We reached out to CenterPoint, but have not heard back.

Houston Public Works is assuring water customers their bills will not be affected and there will not be a boil water notice.