A broken water main closed westbound traffic on U.S. Highway 98 in Fort Walton Beach for about seven hours Monday afternoon. Fort Walton Beach Police received a call at 12:26 p.m. about a sinkhole at the intersection of U.S. 98 and Beal Parkway.
- “We got the call as a sinkhole, but it was just water coming up through the cracks in the road,” said Sgt. Mike Woll, with the Fort Walton Beach Police Department.
Woll said westbound traffic was diverted at Eglin Parkway so that crews could respond to the leak. U.S 98 eastbound traffic was not affected.
Employees with the City of Fort Walton Beach’s Public Works and Utility Services responded to the water break, with help from the Fort Walton Beach Police Department, the Fort Walton Beach Fire Department, and the Florida Department of Transportation.
Public Works Director Daniel Payne said the crew found a 6-inch cast iron pipe about four feet below the roadway that was leaking water from a split. Workers placed a stainless-steel collar over the pipe to repair the leak, before filling it in and repairing the roadway.
- The road was reopened to westbound traffic about 8 p.m. Monday.
Payne said the Public Works department is aware of another potentially leaking pipe beneath U.S. 98 near this site and is currently working to schedule repairs to that line as well.
The City of Fort Walton Beach has approximately 148 miles of buried water lines, delivering water to about 9,000 residences and 1,000 businesses in the city.
