Water Main Break Floods Homes On The Hill In Boulder
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) - The city of Boulder has offered to put eight University of Colorado students up in hotels after a water main break flooded their homes.
The eight-inch main broke at approximately 5:30 a.m. at on College Avenue, near Lincoln Place, and spewed thousands of gallons of water into the University Hill neighborhood next to campus.
Five homes and several vehicles have flood damage, and it took workers 30 minutes to stop the rushing water.
City workers say last fall's flooding left the ground in the area highly saturated, and that may have caused the pipe to break.When temperatures change, the water underground shifts, breaking pipes.
"This is the first one that we've seen that we're thinking that is the cause, but there is the possibility that more will come," said Boulder Public Works Department spokesman Mike Banuelos.
The break was repaired by Thursday night, and the city says it will pick up the hotel tab for the students if they opt to stay in a hotel room. The city is also helping to pump out the homes.
Tenant Cole Thompson told CBS4 he woke up surrounded by water.
"The seal broke on the window and it just started pouring in like crazy like gallons per second," Thompson said. "It was wild -- we just got done cleaning up from the September flood and then it was flooding even worse."
At least 30 inches of water flooded the basement apartments Kent Zaitz rents to students.
"The tenants had all escaped through the windows," he said.