A West Hartford woman said she feared her pipes had frozen when she discovered she had no water this morning, but instead, a water main had broken up the street from her home.
Sandra Perlman, 83, said she received no notice from the Metropolitan District Commission when crews began making repairs on a 12-inch water main on Haynes Road in West Hartford. Water service was shut off around 11:45 a.m.
"There was no water in the kitchen so I went to check the other rooms, the shower, the bathroom, there was no water anywhere, so I assumed that the pipes broke," said Perlman.
She was not aware of the problem up the road and said she received no notification that MDC had shut off her water.
The recent widow frantically called her son Bob, who lives 70 miles away. He arrived as quickly as he could to help out.
"I checked all the pipes. I felt the pipes. They weren't hot, but they weren't cold; they weren't frozen anywhere," said Bob Perlman.
That's when he walked up the road and noticed flashing lights. A police officer told him the water main had broken.
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"If I had gotten notice, I wouldn't have panicked and called my son to come down 70 miles," said Sandra.
The Perlmans feel more could – and should – have been done to alert residents.
"It's upsetting, but it's a holiday," said Bob Perlman. "I don't know how long it would take somebody to knock on 35 houses just to let people know."
MDC said it's standard procedure to knock on doors and leave a door hanger behind if no one answers. Officials with the water company said all 39 affected properties on Haynes Road should have been properly informed.
They're now looking into what happened in Sandra Perlman's situation and apologized for any inconvenience she experienced.
Two other broken water mains were reported in West Hartford earlier in the day: an 8-inch main on Flatbush Avenue and a 6-inch main on Warrenton Avenue. Water service to those areas has been restored.
Water service was restored to all affected homes on Haynes Road as of 7 p.m., according to MDC.
