Atlanta mayor faces backlash over city’s water crisis

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens faced backlash on social media Saturday after being slow to respond following burst water pipes in the city Friday.

According to the Associated Press, the problems began Friday morning when water gushed onto a street from corroded pipes at the intersection of three major water mains in downtown Atlanta. This caused water problems at two hospitals and two prisons, as well as local shelters. A separate breakup occurred later in the city’s downtown area.

These problems forced many downtown businesses and attractions to close and affected water service to homes across the metro area.

The city and its water management department sent out their first update Friday after 8 p.m. Citizens did not receive another update until 12 hours later, according to the Associated Press, and Dickens did not address the media until 2 p.m. Saturday. He said he was in Memphis when the problem started.

On Saturday afternoon, Dickens promised updates every two hours until the situation was resolved and also apologized.

“Overnight we didn’t do the best job of communicating. We could have done a better job over the past day and I apologize for that,” he said.

In a post on We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your patience. Our team is committed to resolving this issue quickly and efficiently.

In Dickens’s responses, a multitude of testimonies continued to criticize the mayor for his late response.

“The message is still useless. A leader sets a deadline according to his experts and does whatever is necessary to meet that deadline. You haven’t said anything that tells us this is an insurmountable problem, so apologies -you and we don’t know if it’s a failure,” the @CineGastro account responded to Dickens.

“I like you, I voted for you, I donated to your campaign. You have good ideas and a vision for this city. But you have shown that you cannot manage a crisis, and it “It’s at least 50% to bring in a mayor from any city. In the next election, I’m looking for someone with experience,” replied @suneelg to the mayor of Atlanta.

“Here are some free communications tips as you prepare to run for re-election: This post should have been posted yesterday. If this was your election year versus next year, you’d be cooked,” replied @ bryantajoseph to Dickens in a message earlier Saturday.

News week contacted Dickens’ office Saturday evening for comment. This story will be updated following a press conference scheduled for Saturday at 9:30 p.m.

City officials reported Saturday that several rounds of repairs had been made to a main breach at the junction of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard and JP Brawley Drive.

A boil water order was still in effect Saturday evening for much of metro Atlanta. Residents have been asked to limit their water consumption to allow water pressure to recover.

“Certainly we understand the urgency of restoring water service, but we also want to make sure that we do it in a way that does not result in further regression of our work,” Al Wiggins Jr. said Saturday. , commissioner of the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management. . d “Any water service is a fragile installation.”

He said he hoped service would be fully restored by Saturday, but he could not guarantee it.

Atlanta attractions and businesses, including the Georgia Aquarium, were closed Saturday.

“The citywide water problem is still affecting the Aquarium and many others in the area. It doesn’t affect our animals, but it does affect our visitor areas, like restrooms,” said l aquarium on the social platform

For the second night in a row, rapper Megan Thee Stallion had her concert at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena canceled due to water issues.

“After discussions with the Mayor’s Office regarding ongoing water leak issues affecting Downtown Atlanta, the City of Atlanta is unable to host the Megan Thee Stallion show scheduled for tonight “, the arena posted on Facebook.

Megan’s concert from Friday was moved to Sunday, and Saturday evening is still scheduled.

In an Instagram Live post, the rapper expressed his sadness and frustration and even offered to move the concert to an outdoor venue in the Atlanta area.