NEW YORK - Emergency crews were working Monday evening to clean up the Lower East Side after the sixth water main break and resulting flooding in Manhattan in less than a month.

The 30-inch water main broke around 5:30 p.m. on South Street near Pike Slip and Wagner Place, flooding several streets. At Market Slip and Water Street, much of the water spanned about a block. At least one car was stuck in the water.

 

"I ran out through the grass and I got to South Street, and when I saw my car, my car was under water," one man said. "I was able to turn it on, come out, and bring my car over here."

Catherine Slip from Madison Street to South Street — as well as South Street from Pike Slip to Robert F. Wagner Place in both directions — was closed to traffic Monday night.

The FDR Drive is not affected.

Water service in the area was not impacted, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection said, but at least one woman told us the water in her home was brown.

Several cars were parked on the street, but some drivers, cyclists, and runners were seen going through the water, which officials warn against. One man was lucky to get his car out, but some who tried to drive their vehicles through the water got stuck.

The cause of the break was not confirmed.

LIKE A RIVER

Several Manhattan streets have flooded in the past month due to water main breaks — at times turning streets into quasi-rivers.

February 7 in Morningside Heights
 

January 31 on the Upper West Side

 


(Image of flooding courtesy Above96th/Twitter.)

January 23 in Chelsea

January 19 on the Upper West Side
 


And the big one: January 13 on the Upper West Side
 


Environmental Protection Commissioner Vincent Sapienza defended the city, noting water main breaks cannot be avoided in a city with 6,800 miles of water mains, and that the city replaces an average of one mile of water mains a week.

The city says anyone whose vehicle was damaged in the water main break can file a claim with the comptroller's office for a reimbursement.