AMES, Iowa — Residents lined up for bottled water Thursday, one day after historic flooding caused pipe breaks that left the college town of 55,000 without drinking water.
City officials set up five distribution sites and urged people to use as little water as possible until eight broken lines are repaired and the water system is restored. Residents can drink water if they boil it, but officials implored them to limit such use because efforts to fill water towers and flush the system will be slowed unless taps are turned off.
On Thursday morning, residents who stopped by one water site outside a Sam’s Club seemed ready to conserve.
“Since we’re not supposed to use water, I didn’t shave this morning,” said Jon Vial, toting a gallon of bottled water.
Flooding in Ames came after three nights of heavy rain caused creeks and rivers in central Iowa to swell. Hundreds of residents have had to leave their homes in Ames, Des Moines and Colfax, and a 16-year-old girl was killed when a flooded creek swept her car off a road.
Ames, home to Iowa State University, shut down its water system after two large pipes broke beneath flooded areas. Crews then found six smaller line breaks. The leaks drained the city’s water towers, raising the chance of contamination and reducing the water supply to a trickle in some areas.
