A 12-inch water main at Eutaw and Franklin streets broke Friday evening, causing buildings to lose water service and icing streets, according to a spokesman for the Baltimore Department of Public Works. A city contractor was laying a new section of pipe when the break occurred, said Kurt Kocher, the spokesman. As of 10 p.m., between 15 and 20 buildings in the area -- which stretched from just north of Franklin to Park Street on the east, Paca Street on the west and Saratoga Street on the south -- were without water service, and crews had shut down traffic in the area, he said. The light rail along Howard Street was also shutdown. The contractor was on the scene working on repairs, Kocher said, but had no estimate for when water service would be restored.

--Baltimore Sun staff