Broken water main cap causes flooding in Fresno Co. neighborhood

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- It was a wet and soggy New Year for some Fresno families - who spent their holiday mopping up damage left behind by a water main break.

The rupture happened on Santa Ana near Thorne Tuesday morning, affecting several homes.

One homeowner told Action News he felt helpless, the water main broke in his backyard. He had to throw away everything a foot off the ground.

Neighbors say at first water was shooting up to 7 feet high in the air.

It flooded two homes and also flooded Santa Ana Avenue.

Families believe because of the holiday, it look a longer time for crews to respond.

In the end, they found out it was a city pipe that had burst.

Those who were able to get a closer look at the break say it looked like the cap on a 13 inch pipe may have rusted which then caused the rupture.

"All I heard was just a pop like a firecracker, next thing I did was look out the front window, a fountain going up; within minutes, two homes were flooded," said a neighbor, Andrew Ditommaso.

The city of Fresno was at the house for several hours trying to repair the break.

The homeowners told Action News the good news is the water didn't actually get into their homes, it's in the foundation. And they are waiting to hear how badly it was damaged.