Video from KARE-11 TV.

 

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A water main break in downtown Minneapolis has flooded streets and cut off or reduced water service to a major part of the city.

Workers are not expected to finish repairs until Thursday evening.  Bus service is being rerouted.

Marie Asgian, the city's superintendent of water distribution, says the break was caused when an excavation contractor working for a utility company was working near the pipe shortly after 2 p.m.

The Star Tribune reports the loss of water forced some businesses to curtail service or close temporarily.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis sent home nonessential employees but says essential operations continued to function normally.

Thanks to a backup system, surgeries and other operations remained on as scheduled at Hennepin County Medical Center despite the water loss.

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.

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