ST. LOUIS – The most treacherous ice flow we saw Monday was in south St. Louis. It was not a result of the ice storm or a water main break.
It’s in the alley behind Michigan and Minnesota avenues, as well as around the corner and down the alley behind Cherokee Street.
The ice, which has been forming for five days, is four inches to a foot deep.
We traced it to a steady stream of water coming from a vacant house on Minnesota. Neighbors suspect a pipe burst inside the house. Flood waters were rising up to and out of the cellar door Monday afternoon.
“(I) called the city water department, fire department, every person I could think of to call,” Chad Connolly said.
Connolly lives across the alley from the leak. His garage is in the middle of the flow. His neighbors can’t get to their parking spaces behind their homes and apartments. They can’t get to their dumpsters to take out the garbage.
“I’ve pulled out five cars already that have been stuck here,” he said.
His Ford Super Duty truck has been able to traverse the icy terrain.
“For winter time, I keep (John Deere) a gator and snow blade. I normally clean (the alley) for the neighborhood, but I can’t do anything with this. It’s ice. I can barely get through it in my truck,” he said.
The dangers would melt away if the City of St. Louis Water Department had sent someone to shut off water service to the vacant home, he said.
The city has been inundated with dozens of water main breaks.
Connolly worried the issue had been mistaken for another main break.
“The response I get from the water company when I call is that they’ve got over 50 water mains broken that they’re dealing with and this is on the list but for five days? How many swimming pools do you think I could have filled up in five days?” he said.
Early Monday evening, a city official alerted FOX 2 that the water department had shut off water service to the home. Connolly confirmed that water was no longer streaming down the alley.
FOX 2 was unable to locate the property owner. Records show he has not paid his sewer bill or property taxes for three years.
