'Murphy's Law' prompts townwide water outage in Oriental

March 12, 2009 by Jeff Aydelette

This water tower proved insufficient to handle the needs of Oriental early Thursday morning after a waterline broke during the night. A second tower of much higher capacity was empty, having been drained for a previously scheduled routine inspection.

Shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday, Don Geddings with the Pamlico County Water Department opened an emergency connection in order to supply the Town of Oriental. The town's 200,000 gallon tower, taken offline this week for routine maintenance, can be seen in the background.

A crew from the town's public works department labors to repair a line break on Gilgo Road. Officials said recent warmer temperatures after an especially cold winter frequently cause breaks and leaks.

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