Water Main Bursts – 4 Homes Suffer Minor Flooding in Small Torrent

A water main burst in El Cerrito late this afternoon on Ashbury Avenue between El Cerrito High and Harding Elementary schools, sending a gushing stream of water down local streets and causing minor flooding at four homes, authorities said.

Part of Ashbury and Central avenues became small river beds as water streamed down the streets, carrying rocks and mud with it. Police and fire personnel diverted traffic away from the scene until an East Bay MUD worker turned off the torrent about 6 p.m.

An El Cerrito passerby said he noticed water leaking up through the street shortly after 5 p.m. and began to try to notify authorities on his cell phone. A resident came out to see why the passerby was hanging around the resident's truck and decided to move his truck away from the leak, said the passerby, who asked not to be identified.

The truck apparently had been compressing the ground above the leak, partially staunching the flow, and when the truck moved, the pavement lifted and the water began gushing, the passerby said.

"I was standing next to it when it happened," he said. "... As soon as he moved the truck, the whole thing came up."

He called El Cerrito police at 5:10 p.m. and 911 at 5:11 p.m., he said.

The East Bay MUD worker said the pipe was a six-inch, high-pressure main. He shut it off with a long T-handle wrench through a hole in the street. A small number of nearby homes lost their water supply but should have it restored tonight, he said.

El Cerrito fire Captain Rune Hoyer-Nielsen said the flooding affected four homes. "Nothing too significant – garages, basements – things of that nature, a garage cottage workshop."