PHOTOS (UPDATED): Fridley Water Main Breaks in Record Heat

Update (7:15 p.m.): Water service was back to normal—almost—for 1,050 Fridley residences and businesses at 4:45 p.m. Wednesday after a major water main broke near Old Central Avenue NE and 66th Avenue NE.

Customers could still see rust-colored water coming out of taps for a day or so, according to City of Fridley Water Supervisor Kory Jorgensen, but iron in the water isn't hazardous—only unsightly.

About 15 residences were without water service for part of the afternoon.

A that the Fridley City Council will mean that similar breaks in the future won't cause fluctuation in service, Jorgensen said. It's a new water pipe that will run under Rice Creek at Anoka Street NE.

Original post (6 p.m.): Record-high temps on Wednesday heaved the earth enough to cause a half-century-old, 10-inch, cast-iron water main to crack along Old Central Avenue NE in Fridley.

City of Fridley Water Supervisor Kory Jorgensen called it a bad break, the kind that happens about four times a year in the city. "It's kind of a sensitive deal right now," he said, as contractors used a track hoe—equipment the city doesn't own—to excavate the pipe area. 

City workers noticed water on the road at about 12:30 p.m. and reported the problem to Jorgensen, whose crew blocked a residential driveway that may have been undermined by the underground leak.

Water service was shut off to about 15 homes, Jorgensen said, and other customers in the city's northeast corner may experience fluctuations in service or rusty water.

Jorgensen said at about 4 p.m. that he expected to have the main repaired within about two hours, if all went well.