About half a dozen homeowners in San Francisco’s Bayview District woke up Friday morning to flooding in their basements and garages after a 12-inch water main broke for unknown reason, sending a few million gallons of water into the streets.
Homeowners on Carr Street were up in shorts and boots, mops and brooms in hand, sweeping water from their front doors after a water main at Key Avenue and Keith Street broke just after midnight. The water flowed for about seven hours, and was fully capped at 7 a.m.
“This is terrible,” Mackentral Williams, a neighbor said of the water gushing about the neighborhood. “This is a disaster, actually.”
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission spokesman Tyrone Jue said he wasn’t sure why the water main burst, but he did acknowledge the pipe is a 1950s-era piece of equipment. And he did apologize.
“We feel really bad, and want to apologize for the inconvenience,” he told NBC Bay Area. “We want to make things whole again.” He added homeowners and residents would be reimbursed for any cleanup costs.
Originally 25 homes were said to have been flooded, but that number was downgraded to between five and seven, with one car falling in a sinkhole.
#SF crews trying to get to 12in water line that broke in Bayview. PUC says few million gallons water released! https://t.co/KapGCrtBG5 — Stephanie Chuang (@StephChuang) October 3, 2014
