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Broken Water Main May Have Caused Damage That Led To $2M SF Home Being Demolished

SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- A broken water main may have caused a $2 million dream home that was sliding down a hill in San Francisco's Sherwood Forest neighborhood to be demolished.

Cell phone video shows just how bad the leak was early Sunday morning. An 8-inch break spewed water in a hillside. Now neighbors are concerned their homes are also in danger of crumbling.

"This isn't El Nino. There's a significant source of water that saturated the entire hill and up behind our hill," homeowner Ronald Martell told KPIX 5.

Until now, neither neighbors nor the water department knew it was there, though there have been signs of a leak for at least a month.

"We know from the neighbors down the hill that they've been experiencing water in their garages for the past month," Martell said.

The San Francisco Water Department searched for 7 hours and found the break early Sunday morning.

The discovery was made just 230 feet from the home that was so unstable it had to be demolished.

The pipe was capped Sunday, but the public utilities commission cautioned in a statement, they're not finished yet: "The investigation into the cause of the hillside instability is ongoing. It is too early to know whether or not the leak was directly connected to the incident."

Engineers will return to the site of the demolished home to drill a well in an effort to take out any additional water. Officials plan to keep an eye on the area and the vulnerable homes surrounding the site.

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