Massive Water Main Break On Hubbard Avenue In Middletown

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — There was a massive water main break on Hubbard Avenue near Nutswamp Road Wednesday evening in Middletown.

As of Thursday morning, about a dozen homes along Hubbard Avenue still do not have water service, according to Mayor Tony Perry.

"Less than 30 residential customers are without water during the repair, and the company has provided them with bottled water," said a spokeswoman for NJ American Water. "We hope to have repairs completed later today (Thursday)."

That stretch of Hubbard Avenue was shut down last night; it remains impassable in both directions and will remain closed for the next 24 hours, said Middletown officials.

It still remains unknown what caused the 12-inch main under Hubbard Avenue to rupture just before 7 p.m. Wednesday. The water main break caused hundreds of gallons of water to flow over Hubbard Avenue.

After the first line broke, then two other smaller water lines broke near the Shadow Lake 55+ community, located nearby. Some customers in Shadow Lake lost water service Wednesday night, as well.

See the photos on Hubbard Avenue Wednesday night:

"It took about four to five hours to get resolved last night. Hubbard Avenue will have to be completely repaved," due to the water damage, said Perry Thursday morning. "Fortunately the water flew downhill into where Hubbard Avenue crosses into the Navesink River, so there was very little damage to surrounding homes from the water surge."

NJ Natural Gas also responded last night and turned off people's gas because there were concerns there would be a gas leak, as the water main break was very close to an underground gas line. But the gas line was not affected.

A spokeswoman for NJ American Water said Thursday morning they are "focused on the repair at this time and do not have an estimate" of how many gallons of water spilled out onto the street.