A Wilson County town lost water for hours on Tuesday after the town said an internet provider accidentally hit a water line in the town.
According to Elm City leaders, Brightspeed, a telecommunications company that provides internet services, hit a water line, cutting off water to the whole town.
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The town said that the line was repaired around 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Residents who spoke with WRAL News said they were frustrated with how the town handled the situation, adding that some only found out about the lack of water when they got home and turned on their faucet or on Facebook.
WRAL News has previously reported issues facing Elm City's water. In 2024, WRAL News learned that the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality had flagged the town's water service six times in six months for violations of the drinking water standard.
Some residents said those issues still persist today, adding that most town residents still don't drink from the tap, and avoid drinking from it when possible.
"We need help. Elm City is almost like a little Flint, Michigan," resident Tarsheka Hines said. "We have been going through this for so long."
Some residents were forced to leave town until the outage was fixed.
"I may go out to the county and stay with my parents in order to get right in a couple of hours because I have to get up early to go to work," resident Stephanie Joyner said.
“It’s a big inconvenience to our pockets and to our daily life," Hines said. "This is not the first time that we have had to use bottled water. This is our daily. This is our normal in Elm City.”
WRAL News has reached out to Brightspeed about how the company cut the water line. The company said it would look into the issue and release a statement "at an appropriate time."
One town commissioner told WRAL News that the town currently has grants underway to help address the water issues its facing.