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Broken US water pipe sparks panic.


12/23/2008 6:44:21 PM

A water pipe has broken in the US state of Maryland, outside Washington DC, sending frigid water over a suburban road and trapping about a dozen commuters in their cars.

Rescuers in helicopters had to pluck people on Tuesday from the torrent unleashed by the ageing pipe.

Crews also used a boat to rescue motorists from waters at least 1.2 metres deep.

Montgomery County Montgomery County may refer to:
  • Montgomery County, Alabama
  • Montgomery County, Arkansas
  • Montgomery County, Georgia
  • Montgomery County, Illinois
  • Montgomery County, Indiana
  • Montgomery County, Iowa
  • Montgomery County, Kansas
 fire officials believed everyone was safe. However, several people rescued were treated for hypothermia hypothermia

Abnormally low body temperature, with slowing of physiological activity. It is artificially induced (usually with ice baths) for certain surgical procedures and cancer treatments.
.

Fire spokesman Pete Piringer said crews had trouble getting to people because of the swift-moving water.

Officials said that at one point, water was gush at a rate of 511 million litres per minute.

The water main broke during the morning commute on River Road near the Congressional Country Club The Congressional Country Club is a country club and golf course located in Bethesda, Maryland. Congressional used to be an annual stop on the PGA Tour, hosting the former Kemper Open from 1980 to 1986.  in Bethesda on Tuesday, authorities said.

Water outages

Montgomery County schools were closing about two and a half hours early because the main break caused widespread water outages across part of the county.

John White, a Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (or WSSC) provides safe drinking water and wastewater treatment for Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland. It was established on May 1, 1918. A bicounty agency, WSSC has extensive regulatory functions.  spokesman, said it was not yet clear what caused the break.

Because of the gushing gush  
v. gushed, gush·ing, gush·es

v.intr.
1. To flow forth suddenly in great volume: water gushing from a hydrant.

2.
 water's intensity, fire officials did not allow utility workers to immediately shut down valves A shut down valve (also referred to as SDV or Emergency shutdown valve, ESV, or ESDV) is an actuated valve installed in a pipeline. It isolates a process unit from an upstream or downstream (gaseous or liquid) inventory upon activation of the process  where the break occurred, White said.

But crews were able to shut down two valves farther down the pipeline, slowing the flow.

The Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission has said that its system is ageing, overtaxed and underfunded un·der·fund  
tr.v. un·der·fund·ed, un·der·fund·ing, un·der·funds
To provide insufficient funding for.

underfunded adjinfradotado (económicamente) 
.

It serves 1.8 million suburban Maryland customers and has had an increasing number of water pipe breaks, including 1,357 between January and November this year. Last year, it had a record 2,129 breaks or leaks.

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Publication:Aljazeera.net
Date:Jan 6, 2009
Words:293
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