Cleanup underway after water main break floods several Pittsburg homes

PITTSBURG, Calif. (KGO) -- Cleanup is underway in a Pittsburg neighborhood after a water main break flooded homes and two apartment buildings causing extensive damage. The water main break happened on Black Diamond Street between West 10th and 11th streets. Not only are homes and cars flooded, but roads also buckled.

It was tough to salvage much from the flooded basements and sheds in Pittsburg this morning. Residents say the water from last night's break left behind a huge mess.

"Camping gear, clothes that belong to my grandkids -- you know that is pretty substantial. A crystal that my daughter has kept in boxes, stuff like that -- gardening stuff that we lost," said Melinda Campos, Pittsburg resident.

The 12 inch pipe ruptured after 9:00 p.m. Wednesday. Crews worked all night to repair the break, vacuum the water and fill the hole. It happened less than a mile away from city hall, where they are trying to figure out why this happened.

"This is not normal for the city of Pittsburg we have done a great job in the past on maintaining our water system. We've have done a lot of capital improvement projects over the years bringing that water system into today's standards if you will, so we don't have a lot of old water lines in the city and this happens to be one," said Joe Sbranti, Pittsburg city manager.

Crews spent the morning assessing how much damage the water did in the neighborhood and working on a plan to help residents.

"We had to move our cars, their cars flooded over here. We don't have a basement but have some damage, the fence fell," said Campos.

The city manager's office is working to release more specific damage numbers now that they have been look over the impact of the flooding.