San Francisco General Hospital

Water Main Bursts, Causes Mess, Sinkhole, Shuts 2 Hospital Buildings in San Francisco

Water spewed early Tuesday morning in Potrero Hill near San Francisco General Hospital after a water line broke and caused a two-foot sinkhole.

A hospital facilities manager said that the water was restored about 5:15 a.m. after a 12-inch line broke on Vermont Street between 22nd Street and San Bruno Avenue two hours earlier. Mud and water gushed in the streets as cleanup crews bulldozed the wet mess.

The break affected two buildings at San Francisco General Hospital - the dialysis center and a research lab, both of which will be closed on Tuesday.

According to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the pipe is from 1897.

This break follows a similar break in San Francisco on Oct. 3, when a pipe from the 1950s burst in the Bayview District flooded many homes in the area, sending a few million gallons of water into the streets.

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