SAN DIEGO — Residents and businesses are cleaning up following a major water main break Sunday in the East Village.
City officials say the incident happened at 11th Avenue and A Street around 3:30 p.m. when a 76-year-old, 16-inch diameter cast iron ruptured, sending gallons of water flowing toward buildings. The water gushed for hours until it was eventually shut off around midnight. Streets were closed and nearby residents, as well as businesses, lost water service.
Phenix Salon Suites on 10th Avenue and A Street took a direct hit from the flooding. Property manager Aileen Palacio says 22 suites – about half – were damaged.
“We got two inches of water per suite,” she said. “We’re kind of shut down for the week. We’re trying to clean up the mess, take out the water, put dehumidifiers in and hopefully be open by next week.”
Jennifer Johnson and her family were staying at a nearby hotel where the water was shut off.
“We don’t have any water,” she said. “They’re being generous by giving us bottles of water to have. We’re hoping for a quick resolve. You don’t realize how much you use running water until you don’t have it.”
Others living nearby were filling up at water wagons brought in by the city.
“We didn’t need it much last night, but now, going a whole day without it, we are going to have to use this water to bathe, if we have to use the restroom,” one resident said. “So we’re just going to have to deal with it until we get a notification.”
A few hours later, another water main broke on northbound I-5 at State Route 163 near Balboa Park, causing major flooding that shut down the freeway. Road closures remained in place at both locations Monday night.
