Paul Allen Diverts River Through SLU
South Lake Union is currently under water after a 20" main was broken by contractors this morning. Some businesses in the area aren't getting water and the area around Harrison and Dexter is flooded.
"I just took my dog for a walk, and when I came back I saw a river coming down Harrison," said Nic Roussouw, who is working on opening a coffee shop at 404 Dexter Ave. N. "I imagine the city must be responsible."Black asphalt had been piled up in his doorway to keep the water out.
About two blocks away, Mayor Greg Nickels cancelled a news conference scheduled at 9 a.m. to highlight major improvements to city roads.
"In a city as old as Seattle, you find things under the road all the time," Nickels said. "We'll figure out who's at fault here. ... We're going to focus on turning off the water first."
City engineers are working to prevent the water from flooding nearby electrical vaults. For the time being you may want to take a route downtown that avoids the whole mess. Apparently some of those magical runes that appear on the pavement above buried utilities were either absent or mis-interpreted.
KIRO has some video of the flowing water.
