MASON CITY, Iowa - A repair to a water main break from earlier this week led to the discovery of a sewer collapse in one Mason City neighborhood.
On Tuesday afternoon, city crews were working on a main break at the intersection 3rd Street SE and S. Rhode Island Avenue and got it fixed. A few hours later, another break happened in the same area.
Later, crews noticed that part of the sewer pipe had collapsed. The repair was more complex than city equipment could handle, so outside crews were brought in to fix it.
Faruk Jessa lives on Vermont Avenue, just on the other side of where the collapse took place. He didn't notice any noise or feel anything when the collapse happened, but has noticed crews working on the two main breaks.
He praises the city for having a plan in place for situations like these.
"We're very lucky to have such a fast response. Because in other cities, it may take a day, 2-3 days or 4 days, or sometimes a week before crews can get out. So we're definitely lucky as citizens of this town to have very quick service and turnaround," Jessa says.
We reached out to Mason City Utility Supervisor Joe Bohl, who says it's too early to determine when the hole will be completely fixed, but is expecting that roughly 30-40 ft. of sewer pipe needs to be replaced. Bohl believes ground saturation from the recent rain could be a factor in the water main breaks and sewer collapse.
