We ‘really got a mess down there’

According to unidentified workers with the Beaufort/Jasper Water Authority at the scene, someone was doing work on an underground pipe using something called a “missile” along Shell Point Road on Monday, March 17, 2025, when it “got sideways” and took out the water main with it. According to a someone with Beaufort/Jasper Water and Sewer Authority’s Public Works office, a “contractor” accidentally hit the water main and broke it. The pressurized water was powerful enough to wash out Shell Point Road, the support gravel and a good bit of dirt causing the road to be blocked off until it could be repaired could be affected. Residents gathered at Broad River and Shell Point roads to watch the commotion. One remarked, we “really got mess down there” as cars and pickup trucks made their way through the water being released from a nearby fire hydrant. When one pickup driver was seen going through a second time, he said he was washing off the pollen and needed to rinse both sides off. Photo courtesy of Bob Sofaly