Cleanup Efforts Continue In Oceanside After Water Main Break Leaves Muddy Mess

OCEANSIDE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A Long Island community is cleaning up and drying out after a water main break left behind a muddy mess.

Crews and residents are cleaning up Pearl Street in Oceanside after a 12-inch water main burst underneath nearby River Avenue on Monday, putting nearly a half dozen homes under water.

"This was an ocean yesterday," Oceanside resident Steve Buckley said. "It was bad, I never saw so much water."

The water flooded the area so fast some people and their pets had to be rescued by boat.

Resident Wendy Wang was getting home just as her street was flooding.

"[Firefighters] stopped me before I could get even get in," Wang said. "I said I gotta get in there, my doggies are inside. They were like, 'Don't worry, firefighters broke down your door, came in and moved your dogs."

Residents are now starting to remove their water-damaged belongings, CBS2's Raegan Medgie reported.

"I'm going to have someone come in, we're going to throw out everything that got wet and just start cleaning," Wang said. "I'm gonna have to throw out anything in paper boxes, everything that's on the floor is going to go."

Water was restored to residents in the community at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Since last night, workers from New York American Water have been going nonstop cleaning and repairing the burst pipe. While piles of water-damaged belongings start collecting from homes, neighbors are stopping by to lend a hand.

Now that the water is gone, all that remains is mud on the sidewalks and the road. A gaping hole can be seen where a portion of the water main has been repaired.

A spokesperson with American Water said they are looking at the infrastructure in the area.

"We look at all the mains every year. We look to see which ones to replace... it's based on frequency of breaks, other conditions like how old the pipe is, what type of material it is," Christopher Buday of American Water said. "This was not high on our priority list, this main."

American Water said it will be days until they know what went wrong.

Those living on Pearl Street will be cleaning up and salvaging what they can in the meantime.