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WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. By John F. Bailey. July 20. 2005. UPDATED 11:30 P.M. E.D.T Wednesday Evening ALL NEWS FINAL.: Late Wednesday afternoon, Louis Cappelli contacted the CitizeNetReporter with new information on the Target Store leak and closing Monday evening. Cappelli said that the pipe joint that burst causing the Target food was a 15 inch cast iron storm water drain pipe that collected storm water from the higher levels of the project and fed into the Martine Avenue.
Cappelli made clear that the steel rods installed to hold the rubber gasket joint that burst in place, apparently were removed during a regular maintenance process of joints called a “clean out.” For some reason the steel rods were not replaced, or not replaced properly. “It is not clear,” Cappelli said “whether this was one of our maintenance crews or Target’s who performed the clean-out.”
Cappelli said the Martine Avenue storm drains backed up with water “two feet” over the storm drains between 4 and 5 P.M. Monday. This, Cappelli said, caused the rodless15 inch pipe rubber gasket pipe joint in the ceiling of the Target complex (located on the lower level) to burst because the steel rods holding the gaskets in place were not reinstalled during the cleanout. Cappelli said this was a 100-year storm, and “In all the hundreds of rods and joints in the City Center complex, this was the one joint that the steel rods were not reinstalled during an apparent cleanout.” Cappelli said the city got 7 inches of rain in less than an hour.
He said “Cleanouts are done on a regular basis. The project is three years old, having opened in July 2002. Cleanouts take care of debris and blockages that collect in the pipe joints from the various levels of the project. This was one of the main pipes receiving flow from many other feeder pipes.”
White Plains Finest Brave the Rising Waters. Too Much Water Too Fast.
Here is just some of the water mayhem Monday’s deluge caused: According to Department of Public Safety spokesman, Inspector Daniel Jackson, White Plains Public Safety Department officers waded into car window-level water to help five motorists exit their vehicles at lowlying areas of the Bronx River Parkway, Bloomingdale Road and in the vicinity of North White Plains Railroad Station on Haarlem Avenue.
Jackson estimated that the flow of water from the storm drains blew 15 to 20 manhole covers during the rain. Jackson said officers assisted motorists departing cars because of the danger of motorists stepping into open manholes. Jackson noted that all manhole covers were retrieved and put back in place.
Jackson said he was directing traffic at Bloomingdale Road and the sheer volume of rain in the short period of time, approximately 30 to 40 minutes, was the cause of the flood.. From where he was directing traffic, he said he could see the waters beginning to recede, as the storm ended, which indicated to him the existing city infrastructure, “any city infrastructure,” were Jackson’s words, couldn’t handle the flash downpour.
Steve Morton, suburbanstreet.com video and internet ace, driving home on the Bronx River Parkway reported water was halfway up the tires of his SUV, and it was raining so hard so fast, he had to pull off the road due to lack of visibility. “I have never seen it rain this hard ever in White Plains,” Morton reports, who has lived in the city most of his life.
Crowne Plaza Damage.
An employee of The Crowne Plaza Hotel, White Plains largest in-city hotel, suffered extensive flood damage to their lower lobby and ballrooms when water flowed down the sidewalk into carpeted lobby, ballrooms and into the swimming pool. The employee told WPCNR today “it was really bad.” WPCNR awaits a return call from the hotel manager to see how the Crowne Plaza is doing in the clean up, and how they are being affected.
Missing Steel Rods Caused Target Flood: Cappelli
The Target Store, according to Louis Cappelli was affected by flooding from when a rubber gasket pipe joint “coming in from the street in the ceiling of the Target Store” joint burst in the ceiling of the Target Store at about 5 PM, because steel support joints that hold the rubber gasket pipe joints together (where pipes change direction) were missing, according to Louis Cappelli who briefed WPCNR exclusively on the Target situation Wednesday morning.
Cappelli theorized that sometime during the construction of the Target level that the steel rods (of which he said there were hundreds binding rubber gasket pipe joints throughout the City Center) were removed by some workers and not replaced in this specific joint. He said this was common practice “because the rods do get in the way.”
But, once removed, the rods should be put back in place, apparently the missing rods were not replaced, which weakened the joint, Cappelli said. Cappelli indicated that crews worked in Target from 5 P.M. Monday until 2 A.M. Tuesday, enabling Target to reopen. Cappelli noted that he felt this was a 100 year type storm with “6 or 7 inches” of rain. He said he was not going to speculate whether lead and oakum would have held, and attributed the break to the failure to reinstall the steel rods.
Cappelli was given a clearance by the city and the Common Council to use rubber gasket pipe instead of lead and oakum joints, as a cost saving measure, against strenous objections by the plumbers union who stood to make far less money installing rubber gasket pipes throughout the City Center Complex than if Cappelli was forced to use the White Plains code-dictated lead and oakum pipe fittings. The rubber gasket pipe technique is used throughout the state. White Plains was one of the cities to continue to require it and did so up until the construction of City Center.
Elsewhere around the city:
The first floor of the Winbrook residence, 11 Fisher Avenue, was inundated with water.
An effort to speak with the Director of the White Plains Public Library to find out how much the White Plains Public Library was damaged by the rains, found the director unable to talk to us at the time. Jim Benerofe of SuburbanStreet.comreported that damage to the library appeared slight to him and that the Trove, the new $2 Million children’s library project, looked to have sustained little if any damage.
White Plains Hospital Center took on two feet of water in their former emergency entrance (where deliveries are now made, and had to pump it out.
A witness said water just cascaded down hills on the West Side of town, especially Orauwaupum Street, just streaming with water.
