Local

Water main break floods DeKalb County neighborhood

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A massive water main break sent water rushing into a Decatur neighborhood Friday.

The DeKalb County Department of Watershed Management had crews working to restore water service to customers in the 700 block of Coventry Road affected by a damaged 16-inch water main.

Approximately 150 to 200 customers were affected by the water outage, according to DWM.

“It was really almost terrifying because it kept rising,” neighbor Gretchen Serrie said. “The river was really flowing fast."

Water was flowing straight toward several neighbors' homes.

TRENDING STORIES:

“Turns out it was flowing under the house, going through the crawl space. Water was pouring out of the crawl space there,” Serrie said.

The water left behind thick mud in the garage of a home.

“It’s always a shame to see a neighbor have to deal with something like that,” neighbor Sean Hannay said.

But it could have been worse. Before DeKalb crews showed up to fix the line, neighbors went to work themselves.

Neighbors were seen building a wall of sandbags to divert the water away from homes.

“It’s just been the most incredible experience of neighbors helping neighbors with a terrible catastrophe,” Serrie said.

Neighbors said a crew installing a new gate on the railroad tracks broke the line.

Many of the neighbors are still without water, but for those who do have water, the county said it is safe to drink.

Officials said water service is expected to be restored to all customers before Saturday.