Crews continue working to repair broken water main that closed City Schools of Decatur campuses

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — The City Schools of Decatur closed all of its campuses Monday due to a water main break in the area.

The closures included College Heights and Frasier Center.

A spokesperson for the district said schools will reopen Tuesday.

The 36-inch water main broke at 3124 Midway Road on Monday morning. Around 4:15 p.m., the county said water pressure had been fully restored and there were no reported outages.

Officials said customers in the affected area may see brown water coming out of their pipes. They should run the faucets inside and outside their homes or businesses to clear the plumbing.

Drivers should avoid the area if possible and expect traffic delays as crews continue working on repairs.

As of 4:45 p.m., the road was still blocked as crews continued to work. There’s no word yet on what caused the break.

Officials said repair work could continue overnight.

For Decatur students, officials said Chromebooks would be issued to students in grades 3 through 12. Schools were also sending work home with students in grades K-2, they said.

All after-school activities and athletics were canceled. The Board of Education meeting in Decatur was also canceled.

Students at three DeKalb County School District (DCSD) schools – Avondale Elementary, DeKalb School of the Arts and Wadsworth Magnet School – were also relocated to other schools because of the broken main.

The city of Avondale Estates reports the break has also affected residents there. City Hall was closed and residents were working remotely Monday.

Mathew Holmes woke up to find his entire yard flooded with rushing water.

“I was like, ‘This can’t be real, like, this cannot be real,’ because there was just, like, water everywhere,” he said. “It was in my house. I couldn’t see any part of my yard, any part of my driveway.”

He said crews got the water turned off around 8 a.m.

“It had four hours of just pure destruction on my yard,” he said.

Holmes said once the sun came up and the water receded, he was able to see the giant hole in the middle of the road and was in shock.

“I feel like the hole looks like something out of a news story in Florida,” he said. “It doesn’t seem real.”

Holmes said his backyard got hit the worst. Less than 24 hours ago, it was all grass and a garden, but that was all washed away.

“I garden, I like my yard, so I had put a lot of effort into it and it’s gone,” he said.

Holmes said he’s already been in touch with people from the city about next steps, but for now, he’s still taking it all in.

“I do imagine I’m going to have a brewski or two,” he said. “So, lick my wounds and just try to stay positive.”

Return to Atlanta News First for updates on this developing story.