A Lafayette neighborhood will be without water until Saturday evening as crews work to cap a broken 16-inch water main.
East Bay Municipal Utility District said 35 homes will not have service as crews shut off the water valve supplying the break. Crews began working to fix the broken pipe on Friday and initially planned to have service restored by noon Saturday.
"This is a pretty significant shutdown," EBMUD spokeswoman Nelsy Rodriguez said. "We'll repair the main and then we'll back-fill it, so there's not a ton of water damage."
EBMUD said the break is a split in the pipe that is 15 feet long and do not know why it broke.
The area near the intersection of Olympic Boulevard and Reliez Station Road was still soaked Friday night after a water main ruptured at the top of a hill. The broken water main was reported at 4:45 p.m. and sent thousands of gallons to the neighborhood down below.
"I mean you could just see, hear the water," resident Debbie Hunter said.
Some of the water ended up in Hunter's front yard and garage. Neighbors hustled to put sandbags at the entrance of the driveway, which prevented flooding.
"It was a little scary," Hunter said.
EBMUD said the pipe was built 66 years ago. No word on when it was slated for replacement.
