MELVINDALE, Mich. (WXYZ) — The entire city of Melvindale experienced a water outage on Wednesday afternoon, sending kids home early and closing buildings.
Watch Tiarra Braddock's video report:
“Everybody was confused — the whole city was confused," Melvindale resident Munib Khan said.
Khan says he was in the shower when his water unexpectedly cut off.
“The shower started spitting water out of nowhere. It was going normal at first and then it started spitting, and then it shut off completely," Khan said.
Melvindale-North Allen Park Public Schools posted on Facebook that students would be dismissed early due to a water outage.
7 News Detroit spoke to one parent as she picked up her son from school.
“They called and told us that school was out and they had to get everyone home because of the water," Cathy Burbank said.
Later Wednesday, the city issued a boil water advisory, saying that all water should be boiled for one minute and then cooled before drinking.
The city posted on Facebook that the outage was city-wide.
“We have never ever had the whole city’s water shut off," Melvindale resident Patty Badgley said. "That’s never happened."
Interim Melvindale Police Chief Chris Egan says the water shutoff was an accident.
“There was an issue in Detroit. They tuned some gate or something like that and when I came in earlier this morning, had almost an orange rust type of thing in the water," Egan said.
According to the city, bacterial contamination may have occurred because of the drop in pressure and the water shutoff.
Egan says the state plans to test the water system one more time for contamination in the next 24 hours, so the boil water advisory will likely last until Friday.
A water bottle distribution happened Wednesday evening at the Fieldhouse on South Dearborn Street and at the Melvindale Senior Center. Another one is being held Thursday from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Fieldhouse on South Dearborn Street.
