Hoboken Hospital Evacuates As City Grapples With Water Main Break

HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY — A Hoboken hospital will begin evacuating patients after a massive water main break caused schools to close and disrupted water pressure city-wide, officials announced.

[UPDATE: The hospital announced a return to "normal operations" on Wednesday, March 1 around 3 p.m. See the update here.]

Hoboken University Medical Center on Willow Avenue will conduct a coordinated evacuation plan but the emergency room will remain open for life-threatening issues, the hospital announced Tuesday.

"There is currently no threat to life or safety within the hospital," a press announcement reads. "The hospital administration has decided to proceed with the evacuation plan as the situation evolves."

Municipal offices were also closed Tuesday because of the water main break that left much of town with little to no water.

Mayor Ravi Bhalla said in a letter Tuesday that in a meeting that morning, the water company suggested that residents should "Plan for a continued disruption in water service through at least tonight and into tomorrow morning."

Bhalla's letter residents "have every right to be disappointed and upset." Some have had no water since yesterday, they had said.