Premium

Detroit’s frozen disaster: Century-old water pipe bursts, encases streets in ice, renders 300 families homeless

A century-old underground water pipeline burst in Detroit, and with temperatures plummeting to -21°C, the gushing water froze instantly, leaving streets, cars, and homes trapped under thick layers of ice.

Cars ended up half trapped in a thick sheet of ice in Detroit

Imagine waking up to find your entire neighbourhood not just flooded—but frozen solid. That’s exactly what happened in southwest Detroit earlier this week when an underground water pipeline burst, turning an entire block into an icy time capsule.

A video that’s been making the rounds on Reddit shows cars and streets encased in thick layers of ice, leaving residents stunned. The caption on the viral post reads: “Flooded Detroit Neighborhood Turns to Ice.”

According to the BBC, the incident happened on Monday, February 17, when a nearly 100-year-old water main––a large underground pipe that supplies water to buildings––gave way. With temperatures plummeting to -21°C, the escaping water froze almost instantly. Streets transformed into icy traps, with vehicles completely frozen in place.

Story continues below this ad

While street flooding isn’t uncommon, this eerie frozen scene is unlike anything Detroit has seen in years. Crews are working round the clock to clear the ice and repair the broken main.

A screenshot of the Reddit post

The post went viral with over 35,000 upvotes and close to a thousand comments.

A user wrote, “This is one of the craziest disasters I’ve ever seen. Damn that’s horrible.” Another user said, “That is so miserable, oh my goodness. I cannot even fathom the damage of this on all of the public infrastructure and everyone’s vehicles. Ice expanding into every nook and crevice? Ugh.”

A third person commented, “It is crazy cold in Michigan right now, yesterday it was -10 with the wind chill so this is was about as worse timing as you can get for flooding in that area.”

Story continues below this ad

When a user asked if anyone has a solution for this in the comments, a man responded writing, “I work for a water utility. First step would be to close valves to isolate the break so it doesn’t just continue flooding the area. There will be multiple valves that can turn that section off even if you have to go further and further back. Better to shut off too much than to have it leak like crazy for a long time, especially a pipe of this size.

After that, it really all depends on what you can do about the ice. At a certain point, you may just have to wait until it thaws enough that you can dig through it if it’s frozen solid. Odds are, it’s just a few inches of ice on top of water. It takes a pretty long time in very cold temperatures to freeze multiple feet of water. I don’t know how cold it was in Detroit when this happened, but I doubt it was so cold that it could freeze that thick that fast.

With this much water being lost, the utility likely knew something had happened somewhere almost instantly. Pumps and tanks are monitored closely and any kind of deviation from the norm gets trucks rolling, at least for us.”

Also Read | Luxury SUVs caught performing dangerous stunts on Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road; drivers arrested as CCTV footage goes viral

According to The Mirror, Mayor Duggan addressed residents’ concerns, assuring them that both the city and the water authority would step in to cover any expenses or damage that homeowners’ insurance doesn’t handle. He also said that water department employees plan to go door-to-door, letting affected residents know how to file a claim if they need assistance.