The city of Port Arthur has issued a boil water notice as a result of a large water main break at Savannah and 19^th Streets. The break occurred at 5 a.m. Sunday and affects areas throughout t the city.

The break has necessitated a boil water notice for Texas 73 to Fourth Street between Texas 82 and Taft Avenue. This area includes the West side of Port Arthur including Sabine Pass, and Pleasure Island to the east side of Port Arthur to FM 366.

The main break has interrupted service to several hundred residential and commercial water customers, Jimmie Johnson, director of water utilities, said in a press release Monday.

As a result of the break, businesses and schools which are operating with very low water pressure, if any at all.

Port Arthur ISD is among those affected as well as Lamar State College-Port Arthur.

PAISD cafeteria workers are boiling water and the custodial staff is managing the bathrooms.

The school district is allowing parents to pick their children up early from school today. Any child picked up early will not be counted absent.

“PAISD is doing all we can to ensure our students are safe and have the ability to use the facilities when needed,” Kristyn Hunt Cathey, PAISD Media/Communications specialist, said.

Lamar State College-Port Arthur closed its campus and offices at 10 a.m. Monday due to the break.

There will be no classes for the remainder of the day, including night classes planned at LSCPA for Monday night.

Lamar at this time plans to resume operation at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Those in affected areas are asked to boil water for at least two minutes after water comes to a rolling boil prior to drinking, cooking or preparing baby food.

This advisory is expected to be in place until Thursday, Nov. 12, or until further notices.

Johnson said the city is replacing water lines throughout the city to prevent or lessen water breaks in the future. The current 36-inch water main will be repaired in place, which will restore service to water customer in affected areas.

Because of the emergency nature of this project, estimates for construction time and costs won’t be available until the scope of work is determined.

The city is notifying customers of service outages through the Southeast Texas Alerting Network (STAN.) Residents who are not currently in the system can register online at www.TheStan.com.

Customers who don’t have access to a computer can call John Tatroe, support services director of the network at 409-983-8668. The News will continue to publish updates, as they are made available.