BANGOR, Maine — An extreme cold weather snap over the weekend followed by warm temperatures on Monday created havoc on water pipes in buildings and on the streets in Bangor.
On Monday, a water main break closed a portion of 13th Street for several hours. This was just one of a number of incidents crews had to deal with after this weekend's brutal cold.
Bangor officials said that over the weekend through Monday, they responded to 22 frozen pipes and five water main breaks.
This was all about five times more than what they typically respond to on a winter weekend in the colder months of January and February.
Bangor Water District Manager Kathy Moriarty said, "Sargent Corporation gave city workers a hand, by providing two additional dump trucks with staff to man them."
Moriarty said that in her 30-plus years with the city, she can't remember "seeing anything quite like this before."
She offered some tips for homeowners to prevent serious pipe damage if a pipe does burst from the cold.
"To prevent water flooding your basement, you can turn off our water. There's two valves, one above the meter, one below the meter. You can turn either of these valves to shut your water off," Moriarty said.
There were record emergency calls from multiple entities complaining of flooded basements to which they responded witnessing "water pouring out of the doorways."
"Really some bad issues. Some people weren't home that came home to flooded basements. It was a bad weekend for our customers," she said.
Officials best advise keeping the pipes from freezing by keeping them warm. If you can't, letting water drip does help to keep water flowing, minimizing water freezing in the pipes.