December 23, 2025 3:40 a.m. 

A watermain break at the intersection of West Harvard Avenue and West Umpqua Street on Saturday night caused a mess and the City of Roseburg is working to fix the situation.

Public Works Director Ryan Herinckx told News Radio 93-9 FM and 1240 KQEN that a leak began just after 8:00 p.m. on a 12-inch diameter watermain. Herinckx said city crews were on site just before 9:00 p.m. and began to close system valves to get the water under control. Emergency locates were called in about 9:30 p.m. and utilities began to locate their utilities over the next two hours. Crews worked through the night to assess the situation and attempt to repair the watermain. Herinckx said they were not successful as the damage was larger than anticipated.

Businesses impacted by the water outage were temporarily connected to another part of the system and were back to having water service by 5:00 a.m. Sunday.

The right-hand lane of eastbound Harvard Avenue is closed at Umpqua Street and will remain closed until permanent repairs can be completed. Umpqua Street just south of Harvard will also remain closed for now.

Herinckx said there is no expected completion date for the repairs as the city is attempting to coordinate with a local contractor to assist in the repair effort.

Herinckx said this was an unexpected break to a water pipe that was installed in 1974 and well within its useful life. He said the break is unrelated to any of the work that took place on Harvard Avenue over this past summer.