Thursday afternoon a 16-inch cast iron water main burst at the intersection of McCully and Algeroba buckling the asphalt in several spots. With no where else to go, water began flooding out of every crack and crevice, swamping nearby streets.
"Up to my shins, easily a foot or so, over the curb for sure," said McCully resident Kyle Ingram.
"there are rocks all over, people had to dodge it, it was crazy, like a natural disaster," said Brandon Isokane, McCully resident. "It was a lot, get your kayak or boat or something."
Isokane tried to keep the water from flowing into his friends flower shop. Luckily, there was no flooding, but it also meant there would be no running water either. When Board of Water Supply crews arrived they shut of service to St. Louis Florist and several other buildings on the block.
"Business is on hold until then. We can’t do anything until further notice, so yeah it’s going to stop business too," said St. Louis Florist owner Kathy Uehara.
Residents were given a water wagon and knowing from experience, they came by the bucket loads to fill up.
"My neighbor says there was a water main break in 2008 and she says this is 10- times worse than that one and they didn’t have water for 4 days," said McCully resident & Chiko’s Tavern owner Quinn Cosma.
"we need to flush toilets and all that, but you have to call up friends and family go over there and ask them to use their showers and just to clean up, its definitely an inconvenience," said Ash Do, McCully resident.
The Board of Water Supply says, the main is over 80 years old so repairs to the pipe will take time.
"Crews will be working overnight, if all goes well we hope to restore water service sometime tomorrow morning if not it will likely carry into the lunch hour or even later," said Kurt Tsue, Board of Water Supply.
Once pipe repairs are made a contractor will come in to repave the roadway. Until then, McCully street remains closed in both directions from Waiola to South King street.
See the original article at: KHON2 Developing Stories
