West side residents waking up to no water

Crews trying to isolate break on Railroad Avenue

By Regina Clarkin

November 22, 2023

A break in a 16-inch water main on Railroad Avenue this morning caused residents of the western side of Peekskill to be without water for approximately three hours. When the water department crews are able to isolate where the break is and shut off the flow of 1,500 gallons a minute, it will be fixed, said Water Superintendent Dave Rambo early Wednesday morning. That happened around 8:30 a.m. The water department was notified by a call to the emergency line between 5 and 5:30 this morning said Rambo.

Water department crews are trying to isolate the water main break. (Photos by @cbstriebich)

The automated city alert system was being activated at 7:45 a.m. This is the same location of a water main break in July 2021 according to Rambo. All eight employees of the water department are on the scene trying to ascertain exactly where the break is, and shut off gate valves to isolate the break from surrounding pipes.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 1:58 p.m. to reflect new information.

About the Contributor

Regina Clarkin, Editor and Publisher

When the Peekskill Herald weekly newspaper ceased publishing in August 2000 it was the first time in the history of the city that there wasn’t a local newspaper. The award-winning weekly was often referred to as the ‘glue’ of the community. Founded on January 9, 1986 by Regina Clarkin, Kathy Daley and Rich Zahradnik with a $7,000 credit card line, the paper filled the void created when the daily Evening Star was sold to Gannett and moved out of town. Founding publisher Regina Clarkin continued to live in the Peekskill Cortlandt area and turned her attention to other life endeavors. Through the ensuing 19 years, Clarkin was frequently stopped in town and asked when she would start up the Herald again. In January 2019, Clarkin decided it was less labor intensive to deliver a weekly blog than a print newspaper so she began posting one story a week about life in Peekskill. After a successful crowd funding campaign in 2020, the Herald was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in July of 2021. Peekskill Herald is a digital relative of the former print edition, featuring many of the favorite aspects of the beloved Peekskill Herald such as old pictures, personality profiles and well written stories about newsworthy events. Regina Clarkin is the editor and publisher of the site. Photo by Joe Squillante