GLWA station power outages leads to Madison Heights water main break frenzy

Madison Heights plagued by water main breaks

Some streets resembled rivers in Madison Heights Wednesday into Thursday.

MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. (FOX 2) - Crews with the city of Madison Heights worked around the clock after a number of water main breaks popped up across the city.

The backstory:

City officials say the Great Lakes Water Authority experienced an equipment issue; but GLWA says it was out of their control.

"I was like oh my gosh," said Alyssa Anzicek.

The Madison Heights resident could not believe the water main break in front of her property that had her street looking a lot like a river on Wednesday.

That water main break on Elliot was one of several in the city.

"Shortly (after) it just started rolling, in that there was more and more water main breaks in the city," Anzicek said.

Many of the breaks happened while Metro Detroit experienced heavy rainfall.

Anzicek said the water pressure at her home was impacted.

"It was a trickle," she said. "I was able to flush the toilets but they are still brown."

Officials in Madison Heights say they had nine water main breaks on Wednesday and that there was an equipment issue at the GLWA's pump station at Hall Road and Dequindre.

GLWA released a statement that said:

"(GLWA) experienced a momentary loss of externally supplied power to one of its transformers at its North Service Center facility, which caused several pumps at the facility to trip.

"As a result of this power loss, which was outside of GLWA’s control, we can confirm that one of Madison Heights’ meters did experience a sudden increase in pressure."

"It’s definitely concerning," said Anzicek.

City crews got to work to fix the water main breaks… many residents telling fox2 the repairs were complete by 10 a.m. Thursday morning.

Madison Heights Mayor Roslyn Grafstein released a statement which reads in part:

"Thanks to the dedication and teamwork of our department of public works, all nine breaks were fixed earlier today. Our crews worked overnight to restore service and minimize disruption."

But Anzicek says her sprinkler line was damaged as crews were out there working on repairs.

"As a homeowner, my yard is tore up," she said. "It’s definitely concerning. Is it going to cost me money? Is the city going to cover it? Is Great Lakes Water going to cover it?"