Local

Work continues on Clairmont Road water main break

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Crews arrived Friday morning to continue repairs to a broken water main that has shut off water to hundreds of people in DeKalb County for days.

Channel 2's Steve Gehlbach was on Clairmont Road near Interstate 85 when workers arrived around 4:30 a.m.

The road has been shut down since a 30-inch water main broke Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of residents, including guests at a nearby hotel, have been without water. One lane in each direction reopened Thursday night, but traffic is still expected to be clogged in the area as the morning commute picks up.

"You're out of water, so you can't cook, can't take a bath. I have a dog. It's just an inconvenience as a whole," Gables at Century Center Apartments resident Sonal Singh said.

The general manager of the Holiday Inn Express said he is getting creative to keep toilets flushing for about 50 guests.

"It's a think-outside-the-box kind of day. People are stuck in the hotel, can't go anywhere. They're here for training, or whatever, and we have to do whatever we can to make them comfortable," Mike Gattone said.

The hotel is manually filling toilet tanks with buckets.

The county said it is trying to minimize the impact, but there was a setback Thursday when crews had to shut off all the valves around the broken pipe to relieve pressure, but one of those failed.

To avoid the traffic back up, southbound drivers should take the I-85 access road to Briarwood. Northbound drivers should take Shallowford Road to Dresden Drive.

Stay with Channel 2 Action News for updates on when the situation will be resolved.