- For around 10 days, neighbors on 48th Avenue have been calling the city to help open up their street. The street has been barricaded off due to a broken pipe leaking water.
- Video shows the broken pipe leading to water flow, the barricaded part of the street, and current street conditions.
- After numerous calls from neighbors, a city plow came to clear out the road. Following that, a second truck came by to clear the big chunks of ice on the road.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It’s been a challenging week for neighbors on 48th Avenue off Center Street where something is finally being done to help get this street cleared.
It all started when a residential pipe burst on Jan. 13.
Neighbors say water flowed for almost two days until M.U.D came to turn it off.
That water mixed with ice and snow on an unplowed road left neighbors like Steve Braun worried to leave his home.
"Cars were coming up and down the street creating huge ruts of 12 to 15 inches and as soon as one would go through, they would ground themselves out and get stuck."
Brigitte Otto was also stuck, but still had to get to work.
"I walked out three days in a row. I walked out at 5 o'clock in the morning and had people come and pick me up."
Eventually, Omaha Police stepped in to barricade off a stretch of the road, but that just created more questions for neighbors who still couldn't get out.
"We didn't know what to do, who we call, nobody really responded," said Brigitte.
"I kept calling the city and never got anywhere. They said they had a lot of requests and I understand it was cold and we're not a priority here, but people can't get in or out," said Steve.
So, for almost ten days neighbors continued calling the mayors hotline for help. It wasn't until Monday that this plow arrived to clear it up.
"It's been a long road trying to get this thing done with several people calling and no reaction to it so I'm thankful on this semi warm day," said Steve.
"I'm thrilled. Phone calls, powerful yes," said Brigitte.
There will be another truck that comes through to pick up some of the big ice chunks that were moved to the side of the road. For now though, neighbors are just happy they're able to drive through.
