Middletown Arts Center Suffers Little Damage In Huge Water Main Break

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Middletown Mayor Tony Perry said Monday morning he was happy to report the Middletown Arts Center suffered "very little" interior flooding and water damage in Saturday night's massive water main break on Church Street.

"Fortunately, very little water got inside, and what did get inside was in the boiler room in the basement," he said. "The MAC was mostly unaffected and not damaged."

An underground water main ruptured at about 9:05 p.m. Saturday, right outside the Middletown Arts Center on Church Street. As of Monday morning, crews are still not sure what caused the main to break.

"I will be talking to NJ American Water about it today," said Perry, referring to Middletown's local water utility.

Approximately one million gallons of water gushed onto Church Street and into the NJ Transit train station commuter parking lot Saturday night. At most, the water was six to eight inches deep at its deepest, said Perry, who was on the scene Saturday night, along with Middletown Police, fire and DPW. Church Street from Kings Highway to Holland Road was closed starting Saturday night, but as of 7 a.m. Monday it is all reopened.

Remarkably, at least three NJ Transit trains were still able to run through the area Saturday night.

"DPW crews did a great job removing parked cars and helping pedestrians in the area," he said. "Our crews worked around the clock to clean out Church Street and have it reopened by early Monday morning."

Two big water main breaks in this area in the past, always in August:

Right around this exact same time last August 2023, there was a similar very big water main break under Hubbard Avenue near the Shadow Lake 55+ community: Massive Water Main Break On Hubbard Avenue In Middletown (Aug. 24, 2023)

And two years prior, also in August and in that same area: 'Major' Middletown Water Main Break In River Plaza (Aug. 19, 2021)