Mishap cuts water to Hub residents

A sewer contractor drilling holes on Massachusetts Avenue in Boston's South End last night punctured a 30-inch water main, sending tens of thousands of gallons flooding into the streets and briefly leaving residents from Andrew Square to Tremont Street without water, officials from the Boston Water and Sewer Commission said.

The flood, at the intersection of Albany Street, forced the evacuation of patients from the Boston Medical Center's emergency room and about 180 people from the neighboring Woods Mullen homeless shelter, said Acting Fire Commissioner Kevin MacCurtain. The medical center diverted ambulances to other hospitals in the area.

``It's a major break," MacCurtain said, adding that he had no reports of injuries. ``We have significant flooding throughout a block and a half in the Mass. Ave.-Albany Street area."

He said the break flooded the basements of surrounding buildings and forced the city's Water and Sewer Commission to cut water to residents throughout South Boston and parts of the South End and Dorchester for more than an hour.

The flood began at about 9:15 p.m. when a crew boring holes on Massachusetts Avenue to test the soil for an upcoming sewer project ruptured the water main with a drilling machine, said Jeanne Richardson, a spokeswoman for the Water and Sewer Commission.

The rupture cracked the surface of Massachusetts Avenue, and a large truck carrying the drill was partly submerged in a small lake spreading throughout the intersection, she said. Police blocked off streets, and traffic slowed to a crawl throughout the area.

``It's terrible out here," Scott Riberio, a neighbor standing about a block away from the flood, said shortly after 11 p.m. ``It's just getting worse."

Shortly before midnight, Jim Kennedy, the central administrator of Boston Medical Center, said that some patients had been removed from the emergency room, but that the emergency room continued functioning.

``We're just not accepting any new patients," he said. ``All our patient areas are dry. But we're concerned if our basement gets flooded."

It wasn't clear last night whether the hospital's basement areas had flooded. No one could be reached last night at Woods Mullen. MacCurtain said the homeless staying there had been transferred to the Pine Street Inn and the Long Island shelter.

Some 40 firefighters and all of the city's Water and Sewer emergency crews were on the scene last night.

MacCurtain said he expected the break to be sealed and water to be returned to residents throughout the city late last night.

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission is setting up a claims office at 710 Albany St. from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today to enable residents who suffered damages as a result of the flood to file claims.

People with questions were asked to call the commission's office at 617-989-7000.

Globe correspondents Elizabeth Ratto and Jason Rosso contributed to this report.