Water main break leaves some Jackson residents without water, causes roadway collapse

It's very loud out here, so I'm going to step out of the way as crews are continuing to work on this mess here in Jackson Township. You're looking at the scene behind me right on Dena Place and Neal Street. This all began around 9 o'clock last night when the line broke, sending water under the street and actually buckling the street in certain sections by the sidewalk and the mailbox. The water main break also took out the sewer and gas lines as well. Let's show you some video we took a little while ago. From these crews actively trying to repair the break, we now know this only affected about 20 homes. That's certainly good news. The gas and sewer lines were also repaired, and now it's just a matter of filling up this massive hole left behind and making sure the street is safe. Earlier, we spoke with Mayor-elect Elliot Shemtov, who says the aging infrastructure under these Jackson Township streets is certainly a concern moving forward. It's very concerning. The lines about 65 years old and now we're going to have to get together and talk about a plan to potentially fix some of these lines. Can't have lines like this that are this old blowing up all over the place. Not good for the residents, not good for the town. We'll have to come up with a plan once I take office in January. You can hear the heavy equipment now behind me as they try to fill up this massive sinkhole behind me. Once that gets done, more heavy equipment will be brought in to smooth out those buckled areas of the streets. And the goal, the hope, is to get this road here in this neighborhood back up and running to local traffic by later on tonight. That's the latest here in Jackson Township. We're live this afternoon in Ocean County. I'm Jim Murdoch, News 12, New Jersey.