Water main break floods San Francisco homes, streets

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A broken water main in San Francisco's Bayview District created a huge mess early Friday morning. Several homes were flooded near Keith Street and Key Avenue, as streets turned into rivers.

The trouble started bubbling over just after midnight. A 12-inch water main ruptured sending millions of gallons of water gushing into about a half dozen homes in the Bayview District.

"Unbelievable, I've never seen anything quite like it before," nearby resident Mackentral Williams said.

Sky7 HD captured video of the huge project after the clean-up effort as crews worked to repair the section of damaged pipe.

Earlier in the morning, a sinkhole started forming around a car parked over the water main break.

A tow truck was called in to save the car and residents did what they could to keep the wet stuff out of their dry homes.

Some grabbed pieces of wood and the fire department got creative.

"All you do is you take a 3-inch line and charge it with water from a hydrant and it works as a great barricade," Battalion Chief Michael Thompson said.

Heavy equipment was brought in for the repairs that lasted long into the morning.

Workers with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission say they see about 100 water main breaks a year, but one this big is rare.

"This is on the more severe side. So many, many of the pipeline breaks are smaller pipes that release less water that affect fewer people, so this is on the high side definitely. We'll have one or two a year that are this severe," San Francisco Public Utilities Commission spokesperson David Briggs said.

Water is expected to be restored to all customers Friday and the good news for homeowners is the bill for damage caused by the mess will go to the city.