Water Main Break Causes Damage 2 Weeks Before It Was To Be Replaced
ARVADA, Colo. (CBS4) - More than a dozen homeowners are cleaning up after a water main break flooded their basements in an Arvada neighborhood on Sunday.
The break happened in the afternoon at 76th Avenue and Webster Way. Along with the flooding the homes also had no running water for most of the day.
The water was restored after a crew replaced the crumbling cast iron water main that had been in the ground since the 1960s. The water main serves a nearby elementary school, which wasn't affected by the break because it happened over the weekend.
Water that seeped out of the cracked main flooded Lisa Maestas's basement and soaked items that couldn't handle water, such as an old camcorder.
"It was working up until; I was running it the other day," Maestas said.
The crew needed several hours of dirt digging to find the leak.
"We were losing thousands of gallons per minute," Arvada Water Systems Manager Cliff Deeds said.
"I can't even think right now," Maestas said. "I'm still in shock."
Two weeks from now Maestas wouldn't be thinking about her new carpet that's water logged or furniture that's all wet.
"I heard a bunch of gushing water, so I opened the door and I looked down there and I saw some stuff floating," she said. "So I was like, 'Shoot, my basement's flooding.' So went down there."
Arvada was days away from replacing the water main.
"I saw all the bubbles in the street, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's a water main break.' So I got the letter and dialed their emergency number," Maestas said.
"It's been a nightmare. I started to leave home yesterday and the road was a river, and then I went downstairs and the water was coming up through the toilet and just like a waterfall," homeowner Dottie Threlkeld said.
"I don't even know where to begin to guess. This will cost thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars," Deeds said.
Arvada will pick up the tab for a restoration company that was called out to limit the damage in the basements. It's not clear how much that will cost but the repairs have already begun.
"The city of Arvada has paid for the restoration crew and the belongings," Maestas said.
