Repairs from damage caused by a water main break in Covington early Tuesday morning are expected to be completed by the end of the week according to Gwen Maxfield, general manager for Covington Water.

The break occurred along the water main that is located beneath the parking lot in front of Kohl’s.

“We’ve repaired it, and by the end of the week we expect it (the parking lot) to be back to full operation.”

The Kent Fire Department and the Covington Police Department as well Covington Water and Covington Public Works staff responded to the call reporting the break just after 5 a.m. Water to the main was shut off at 6:05 a.m.

Maxfield said that an exact number of residents and businesses who were affected was hard to say, but said that, “no water was shut off.”

For some customers water did turn brown, and Maxfield said they received 20-30 dirty water calls. The discoloration, she said, was due to sediment being stirred up when the pipe cracked.

“We told them they could drink the water, there was nothing wrong with the water, it was just discolored,” Maxfield said.

On Tuesday afternoon Maxfield described the break as a “12-inch spiral crack” and said that the pipe had been replaced and that they were waiting on water quality test results before reopening the main. The cause of the break was yet unknown. According to Maxfield the PVC pipe was only 10 years old and had a life expectancy of 50 years.

KOMO News reported on Tuesday afternoon that its chopper had just returned to Fisher Plaza to refuel after covering the water main break in Covington and was departing for a flight to cover a story in Renton when it crashed Tuesday morning. The pilot and photojournalist who were on board the helicopter were killed in the crash and a third man, who had been on the street, was seriously injured.