50 Fresno homes were without water as crews fixed a broken pipe

FRESNO, California (KFSN) -- It took nearly 3 hours to shut off water spewing from a water main break in Northwest Fresno. Before 5:00 Thursday morning an AT&T crew was repairing damage to a utility pole when they hit a water main.

Sierra and San Pablo may be where the problem erupted but it trickled to dozens of homes.

"It wasn't like off, it's just the water pressure was really low and so we like couldn't wash clothes or anything," said Cori Butler, neighbor.

Butler is thankful she and her children took care of their morning routine, including showers, the night before.

In order to allow city crews to patch and repair the water main-- seven other homes had a complete shut off. Water district officials said getting it shut off was their biggest challenge.

"That's because of the valves being an old county district. The valves are in bad shape, sometimes they don't hold sometimes, they get covered and their hard to find," said Bud Tickel, City of Fresno Water Division.

This mop up was no easy task; at one point the water was so high it covered this half of the street.

The problem stemmed from a car chase Wednesday night, not involving police. A driver sped into the neighborhood jumping the curb hitting the utility pole. While working to repair the pole AT&T hit the water main line.

Ishsha Garza did not just wake up to the sounds of gushing water.

"I just heard a bunch of noise. I looked out the window and there was a big-- it looked like if it was a storm, I thought it was raining."

Garza was the one who called 911 when the car plowed into the utility pole In front of her house. The water gushing feet away, got into her car, and though she was thankful they finally shut it off, it also affecting her day.

"It does impact your day, like having to brush your teeth you know, do what you have to do in the morning."

I reached out to AT&T for comment and they referred me to the following statement.

"We are committed to ensuring repair work is completed with the least amount of disruption possible. In this case, our team inadvertently damaged a water line while repairing facilities damaged by a traffic accident. We worked with the utility company to quickly resolve the issue. We apologize for this inconvenience."

They have yet to comment whether the water line was marked.