FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A water main break in Fort Lauderdale has left the city and neighboring municipalities without water service at least until Friday morning.
Mayor Dean Trantalis said a Florida Power & Light contractor doing construction work near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport damaged a 42-inch water main Wednesday. The water main supplies raw water from the city’s wellfields to a water treatment plant.
City officials were forced to shut off the water supply from the wellfields in order to repair the line.
Please only use water that is absolutely necessary. Please turn off all water for landscaping. We are working to avoid any disruption in your water service, however, please prepare for 24-36 hours without water in the City of Fort Lauderdale. More updates to follow.
— Ben Sorensen (@BenSorensen) July 18, 2019
Trantalis said the contractor has been cited.
Neighboring municipalities that receive their water from Fort Lauderdale are also affected. They are Davie, Tamarac, Oakland Park, Lauderdale-By-The-Sea and Wilton Manors.
A boil-water notice has also been issued.
The general manager of The Galleria at Fort Lauderdale shopping mall confirmed that the mall’s stores and restaurants are closed Thursday due to the water outage.
Port Everglades was also affected, but Fort-Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport is not impacted.
All buildings with fire pumps and municipal water pumps were being asked to have their facility managers available and prepared to shut down those pumps should they begin to cavitate from the loss of water pressure.
For more information, residents are asked to call the city’s 24-hour neighborhood service center at 954-828-8000.
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