HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — Henrico County residents are patiently waiting for water levels to recede in their neighborhood as yet another water main break has occurred in the county.
On Saturday, Jan. 20 at around 6 a.m., a water main break at the intersection of North Parham Road and Eastridge Road caused water to flood the street, with water service to seven customers reported to be impacted.
According to Bentley Chan, director of the county’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU), the department believes the main break is due to cold weather as “water main breaks tend to be a common occurrence during extreme temperature shifts.”
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Water main break at the intersection of Parham Road and Holly Hill Road causing flooding nearby (Photo: Victoria Lucas/8News) -
Water main break at the intersection of Parham Road and Holly Hill Road causing flooding nearby (Photo: William Berksteiner/8News) -
Water main break at the intersection of Parham Road and Holly Hill Road causing flooding nearby (Photo: William Berksteiner/8News)
Henrico resident Elias Venable lives in the area near the water main break and had left his house on Saturday morning to let his dog out when he had seen water running through his backyard.
Venable then went back into his house to check if his water was working. When the water turned on and he saw that his home’s pipes had not burst, he went back outside to try to find out what was causing the flooding.
“I just put my boots on and walked up around the corner there and stopped at this guy’s house,” Venable said. “His whole front yard was flooded and I went to see if he was awake to make sure he didn’t have no issues going on because it’s the deepest up there at the corner. It’s almost probably a foot and a half deep in his yard… that’s when I saw the crews up there working on the road and everything.”
Heavy amounts of water flooded the front lawns and backyards of residents near North Parham Road, but Venable said this was not the first time this has happened in the neighborhood.
“One time after a major storm, it flooded real bad like this. I don’t think a pipe had burst, but it was just pretty much as bad as this,” Venable said. “Then in the late fall, there was a pipe. It might have been the same pipe, I don’t know, but they were able to shut it off at the corner that time and it probably flowed for maybe three hours or something before they had got it shut off. But this is definitely the worst, the worst that I’ve seen it.”
8News has reported on multiple water main breaks across the county in recent months, including one that occurred less than two weeks ago on West Broad Street and Old Sadler Road.
Two water main breaks also took place last month in December — with one along Staples Mill Road from Thalbro Street to Park Lane, and another in the Varina area that caused three schools to close.
Venable said he is happy with the response of city officials to the water main break and the ice that had formed on the roads due to the access water. He added that he would like to see more repairs in the infrastructure.
“They did come out here with the salt truck. They took care of the ice,” Venable said. “They’ve been pretty responsive. I know that updating the infrastructure and all that stuff takes time and money — and being in an election year, they have other things to focus on. I’d like to see them, you know, update the the infrastructure a little bit.”
The right northbound lane on Parham Road and the Eastridge access road between Parham Road and Eastridge Road are closed as crews continue to make repairs.
According to DPU officials, repairs are expected to be completed early on Sunday, Jan. 21. Until then, drivers are advised to avoid the area.
