EUGENE, Ore. — Residents living near 4th and Polk woke up to an interesting sight in their front yard after a water main burst early Sunday morning.
“Just came out to a big old river of water on the street,” said Eugene resident Jacob Hansen.
EWEB said it had a number of water mains around town break due to the cold temperatures. “We’ve had a couple significant water main breaks this morning primarily due to the temperature,” said Joe Harwood, EWEB spokesperson.
As the water rushed down the street, neighbors had to act fast to move some cars out of the way. “Push them out of the way cause they were in the way of the geyser and we were concerned about it getting up into the exhaust systems on the cars,” said Hansen.
While EWEB worked to restore water to all those impacted, pipes inside homes were left dry. “No water, I have to go out to the street and get our water,” said Hansen.
EWEB crews worked for hours to get the water back on. “When we see the forecast, you know midweek that was coming, we made sure folks were on call and ready to go and just that little bit of preparation helped us,” said Harwood.
The utility company said it’s hoping residents take the necessary steps to avoid a pipe bursting in their home by leaving a faucet dripping all day long. “Just leave it on, just a trickle, a steady trickle and that’s all you need to do and that’ll solve most of your problems,” said Harwood.
Even though the water was quickly freezing into an icy mess, neighbors tried to find the upside of the situation. “It’ll probably be a fun ice skating rink,” said Hansen.
