LONGWOOD, Fla. – Neighbors in Hidden Oaks reached out to News 6 after they say work to install fiber optic lines in their community led to a water line break.
Jesse Latzman says the first sign something was coming was crews walking through the neighborhood, placing survey markings. Then, a notice eventually came from Colorado-based WIDEOPENWEST or WOW! on a door hangar message that work will be starting soon.
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“Things seemed to be fine,” Latzman said. “And the next thing you know, like, this is just basically destroyed and water is flowing.”
According to WOW!, a water line break occurred around 2:30 p.m. Thursday in an area where telecommunications contractors were preparing to run conduit in the public right-of-way. The company says the contractor quickly contacted city officials to report the leak.
However, Latzman says the water ran uninterrupted for far longer than it should have.
“The city couldn’t turn off the valves, which created a much, much bigger issue,” he said.
The water had nowhere to go but downhill — straight through the cul-de-sac and into the neighborhood pond.
“The pond is several feet higher, but the water is just absolutely rancid,” he said.
A good portion of pavement disappeared in the process, and bulldozers worked through the night to dig deep enough to access and repair the water main.
A spokesperson for WOW! tells News 6 that city officials shut the water off shortly before 10 PM.
Latzman says crews also hit Spectrum lines during the dig. Then, around 10:15 p.m. that same night, the neighborhood lost power.
“It’s like a hurricane, manmade, it feels like. I mean, we lost like every, every utility possible,” he said.
Power was restored after about three hours, according to Latzman.
News 6 reached out to the city of Longwood, which posted about the water main break and emergency repairs underway on Facebook. It says the entirety of Hidden Oaks subdivision remains under a precautionary boil water notice at this time. As a precaution, residents are advised to bring water to a rolling boil for at least one minute before using it for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, or making ice.
“I would have loved to have washed my face this morning, but I let that go,” Latzman said.
His bigger concern is what may be lurking underground.
“Water has been moving underground,” he said. “This neighborhood doesn’t need these houses to have a sinkhole form because work was not properly done or was hastily done.”
WOW! says it is working with its contractor and city officials to obtain more information about how the incident occurred and to determine next steps.
But Latzman says accountability — not just repairs — is what he is really after.
“I want to make sure there’s accountability. That this is more or less on record,” he said. “People don’t just say, ‘Okay, we finished the job,’ and then six months down the road, we’ve got problems from this damage if it’s not properly repaired.”
Latzman says he contacted News 6 after he saw our reporting in Altamonte Springs, where subcontractors with “WOW!” have torn apart residential lawns cable and sewer lines as they cut a path for underground fiber optics.
You can read the full statement from a WOW! Spokesperson below:
Yesterday afternoon at about 2:30 PM a water line break occurred in an area where telecommunications contractors were preparing to run conduit in the public right-of-way.
The contractor quickly contacted city officials to report the leak. City officials shut water off at the site shortly before 10 PM.
We are working with the contractor and city officials to obtain more information as to how the incident occurred and to determine next steps.