Utility Workers Restore Service In Oakland After Friday Water Main Break

OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- Crews have cut out a roughly 6-foot section of a 16-inch water main that broke open Friday morning in Oakland's Dimond neighborhood, a spokeswoman for the East Bay Municipal Utility District said.

Workers had finished cutting out the pipe at about 8 p.m. on Montana Street where a large volume of water gushed down the street and onto Adell Court.

Utility district spokeswoman Nelsy Rodriguez said workers hoped to have water service restored sometime between midnight and 2 a.m. Saturday.

Rodriguez said 12 customers are without water but that includes two small apartment buildings that each has about six units.

The pipe, which was installed in 1932, broke open sometime before 9 a.m. Friday, EBMUD officials said.

The gushing water broke open a sinkhole on Montana Street that EBMUD spokeswoman Andrea Pook estimated to be about 10 feet long. Other property damage has been reported as well.

Traffic was rerouted in the area and the nearby Dimond Avenue on-ramp to Interstate Highway 580 was closed, Pook said.

Service to the 12 customers went out at about 9:15 a.m. Friday.

The cause of the break is still under investigation, Pook said.

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