Water Main Bursts In Brockton, Flooding Street

BROCKTON (CBS) -- It looked like Old Faithful on a Brockton Street as a water main break spewed water nearly 40 feet into the air.

"All of a sudden poof and a big bang and water comes gushing out," said resident Deborah Mcnicholas. "Rocks were flying everywhere. I got scared I didn't know what was going on."

The rocks rained down on several cars in the Belmont Avenue neighborhood shattering the windows. Jessica Souza owns three cars that were in the line of fire.

She had come off the night shift and was asleep when it happened.

"I wondered if there was any damage to my cars and I came out and obviously there was. I'm bummed I don't know what I'm going to do," Souza says.

The neighborhood has been used to the sounds of a digging and repaving project that's been underway for a few weeks, but this sound was suddenly different.

"We saw debris and rocks in every direction," said resident Eddie Clark.

The mess left the neighborhood without water for several hours.

The Department of Public Works Commissioner Larry Rowley blames it on an aging pipe that was crushed because it was exposed with all the digging and heavy equipment.

"The roof of the pipe broke out and the water came up," he says. "There was fresh material and the water squirted it."

He says the car owners can file a claim with the city attorney. Rowley says once the repair is made the system will be flushed and the water will be clean.

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• Brockton