Water restored in Dixmoor after main break

DIXMOOR, Ill. (WLS) -- Cold weather may be to blame for a water main break in south suburban Dixmoor that left people without water for almost 24 hours.

Crews worked through the night after a water main broke near Spaulding Avenue and 143rd Street on 1 p.m. Thursday. Water was restored to all of the village's 3,600 residents by Friday afternoon.

"Because it's a deep, deep, almost like a deep tunnel. So, it's very deep and it makes it very difficult. Like, I said, the pipes and things are so very old. And we are in the process of trying to do some changes with our sewer system," Dixmoor Mayor Dorothy Armstrong said.

The break was so big village administrators hired a contractor with bigger equipment to make repairs. Because water flooded the streets, large sheets of ice formed near the break. Neighbors said the village had been aware of a slow week in the area for some time, and barrels were set up there for more than a year.

"The other day it just seemed like the water gushed out and was all in the streets and cars couldn't get through. People's backing up going backwards or they kinda, from Lincoln, they would go back 'cause you couldn't get through here. And it seems like nobody really cares," Better Clark, who lives nearby, said.

The village recently secured money to upgrade some of its deteriorating infrastructure, but work can't be done until the ground thaws, Armstrong said.

"We got cold weather and old pipes, our infrastructure. We have got some money in to help us with our infrastructure, but we were waiting for it to get a little warmer," she said.