UPDATE: Water Restored to 100s of Upper East Siders After Main Break

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A water main broke beneath East 65th Street at Lexington around 11 a.m. Tuesday, causing a full day of street closures and water outages for 450 residents living on East 65th between Lexington and 3rd avenues, according to the NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

Water was restored to the residents by 10 p.m. Tuesday, a DEP spokesman told Patch.

City officials were still uncertain around 5:30 p.m. as to when the street would be reopened and water service would be restored.

"Repairing something under the street in Manhattan is different than any of the other boroughs, because there's so much stuff under the roadway," a DEP spokesman told Patch.

In this case, the water main that ruptured is believed to be adjacent to an electrical line, the spokesman said — so city crews are waiting for a go-ahead from Con-Ed before they fully excavate the street to find the leak and repair it.

The street was closed to traffic between Lexington and 3rd while crews attempted to repair the damage in the rain, police said.

Billows of steam could be seen coming from the 65th Street rupture in footage from the scene, and a fire hydrant gushed water nearby.

The NYPD and FDNY originally reported the problem as a broken steam pipe beneath the street, but a Con Ed spokeswoman said it was in fact a water main that broke. The steam was created when the leaking water hit the hot steam pipe, she said, and no Con Ed customers were affected.

This is a developing story. Refresh the page for updates.

Lead photo via the NYPD