New York Today: Water Main Break, Day 2

Ángel Franco/The New York Times This is why your subway was delayed on Wednesday.

Updated 10:08 a.m.

Good Thursday morning.

Take an umbrella, but don’t fret if you lose it: Early clouds will give way to a sunny day.

Subways are back to normal after a water main break that flooded tunnels and streets on Wednesday in Greenwich Village.

If you’re driving, things don’t look as good.

Workers are still excavating to reach the guilty pipe, and Fifth Avenue is closed between 12th and 14th streets. A stretch of 13th Street is also closed.

Traffic will head to Broadway and Seventh Avenue, clogging side streets, too, and causing a ripple effect through Manhattan.

The road closings may last a few days.

The pipe that broke was just eight to 10 feet below ground level, but excavating amid the crosshatch of pipes under Manhattan is tedious work that often needs to be done by hand.

Workers must reach the pipe before figuring out why it failed.

Did it crack, leak or burst?

“We are confident that age was a contributing factor,” said a spokesman for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.

The pipe, a cast iron main 36 inches across, was installed around 1877, not long after Boss Tweed’s reign as the public works commissioner.

A program to improve pipe maintenance has cut the number of water main breaks â€" though there are still hundreds every year.

Here’s what else you need to know for Thursday.

WEATHER

It gets better: cloudy with a chance of showers in the morning, gradually turning sunny by the afternoon, with a high of 41.

Tomorrow will be nice and warmish, for January: in the mid 40s.

COMMUTE

Subways: Check latest status.

Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.

Buses: M1, M2, M3, M5, M14A and M14D are rerouted because of the water main break.

Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect.

DE BLASIO WATCH

From Kate Taylor of the City Hall bureau of The Times:

- The mayor is holding a 2 p.m. news conference at City Hall, most likely to announce another appointment.

- The transition is moving too slowly for some. One deputy agency commissioner said that staff members “have no clue what is going on” and “there is already a strong sense of being rudderless.” [Politicker]

- Tonight, Mr. de Blasio attends the banquet of the Real Estate Board of New York, the city’s real estate trade association. (The City Council speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, and Comptroller Scott Stringer will be there, too.)

- Quinnipiac University will release its first poll on his mayoralty at 4 p.m.

- Mr. de Blasio detailed a plan to cut pedestrian traffic deaths, including having cameras issue tickets, no longer just warnings, to speeding drivers. [Wall Street Journal]

- He did not return nearly $50,000 in campaign contributions bundled by a taxi medallion owner who is accused of cheating his drivers. [Daily News]

COMING UP TODAY

- Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at the Harvard Club in Midtown as some activists protest hydraulic fracking while others call for a higher minimum wage. 8:15 a.m.

- The so-called Power Breakfast popular among executives and politicians since the 1970s returns to the Loews Regency Hotel after an elaborate renovation of the space.

- Labor and women’s advocates host a panel on the topic “Surviving on $5: Women Workers in the New York State Restaurant Industry,” in Midtown. 8:30 a.m.

- Four community leaders from areas severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy discuss how their neighborhoods are faring, at the Museum of the City of New York. 6:30 p.m. [$16]

- Poe fans: The writer Paul Auster and Isaac Gewirtz, a curator at the New York Public Library, discuss Edgar Allan Poe, born 205 years ago this month, at the Morgan Museum and Library. 7 p.m. [$25]

- Ask Roulette: Strangers ask one another questions at the Housing Works bookstore in SoHo, with guests including the creator of the radio show “Radiolab,” Jad Abumrad. 7 p.m. [Free, RSVP]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- The feud between Governor Cuomo and State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has grown more serious. The two are now fighting for control over a $613 million settlement from JPMorgan Chase. [New York Times]

- Amid the New Jersey traffic jam scandal, the off-and-on love story between Gov. Chris Christie and Bruce Springsteen ended in very public rejection. [New York Times]

- Your property tax bill may be heading up, as city property values continue to rise. [Capital New York]

- Moving on up: A penthouse in Harlem is on the market for $4.3 million. [Daily News]

- Subway officials hope to expand cellphone reception to all underground trains. The elevated lines offer a preview. [New York Times]

- Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his wife, Silda, have filed for divorce. [Daily News]

- Several locations in TriBeCa have rats, but the Department of Health says that in one place the problem is ‘severe.’ [DNAinfo]

AND FINALLY…

Until this year, mutts needed not apply to the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.

The annual pageant at Madison Square Garden was reserved for purebreds, who competed to meet their breeds’ standards.

But next month, Westminster adds a more inclusive competition, an agility championship, and mixed breeds are invited. (They still won’t be judged on looks, though.)

The Times likens the agility competition to “a canine decathlon.”

“Unleashed dogs weave their way around poles, race through tunnels, leap through tires, go up and down ramps and a seesaw, and make a series of jumps.”

To catch the action, you just have to reach into your pocket for $20.

Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.

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