Broken Pipes Cover Tulsa Street With Water

Repair crews are working to fix two water main breaks in Tulsa.

The breaks happened before noon Wednesday on 21st Street on both sides of Garnett, but the city crews are still working to fix them.

"A sunny, bright clear day and we were being flooded,” said Meinke Owner Mark Hanne.

Without a single drop of rain falling from the sky, the 21st and Garnett area quickly became drenched, thanks to two water main breaks.

"It's a mess,” said Hanne.

Without running water, restaurants like KFC had to close for the day and turn customers away.

Buffet Palace employee Johnathan Gonzales describes driving away from work once he learned the restaurant would be closed. 

"It was really rough,” said Gonzales. “So much water was going up."

And with all that water, a muddy mess is left behind.

"The delivery woman came, delivering us a radiator and she hit the mud out here and slid,” said Hanne. “She was afraid she was gonna slide into our building."

Even though his water was off, Hanne kept his Meineke Car Care Center open. But it's nearly empty, not a single customer in the waiting room.

"Normally we are real busy during lunch hour,” said Hanne. “We had one person during lunch hour."

He's noticed a slowdown throughout the intersection.

“It was about two inches of water,” said Hanne. “Customers are kind of avoiding this area.”

But Hanne says it could have been much worse.

"Luckily nothing's flooding inside, so we're fortunate there,” he said. “Haven't seen any major wrecks, we're fortunate there too."

News On 6 reached out to the city but haven't heard back as to when this might all be fixed. Wednesday morning, crews told Hanne it should take about eight hours to fix, so he's expecting business as usual Thursday.