SF Residents Displaced, Students Evacuated Due To Water Main Break
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) - Several residents will be displaced as a result of a major water main that ruptured Tuesday in San Francisco's Visitacion Valley neighborhood, flooding a school and some nearby houses, a spokeswoman for the city's Public Utilities Commission said.
The affected residents are on Tomaso Court, near where the 42-inch main broke around 11:10 a.m. on Sunnydale Avenue, SFPUC spokeswoman Betsy Rhodes said.
The residents had to leave because they are without both water service and power. PG&E shut the power off to allow crews to safely clean up and repair the damage caused by the rupture, which left a hole several feet deep at the intersection, Rhodes said.
American Red Cross officials have responded to assist the displaced residents, Rhodes said.
As of 5 p.m., she did not have an estimate of how many residents will have to be displaced or how many homes were damaged by the flooding.
"It'll be growing as people come home from work," she said.
Service has since been restored to most of the SFPUC customers in the area. Anyone who is still without service or whose house sustained damage should call the city's help line at 311, Rhodes said.
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Much of the water from the main flooded into nearby Our Lady of the Visitacion church and K-8 school.
Students were taken from the school to a nearby park to be picked up by their parents or guardians, principal Maxie O'Rourke said.
O'Rourke said classes will likely be canceled at the school until as late as Sept. 10 because of damage to several classrooms, as well as the gym and administrative offices on campus.
"They'll just get some extra vacation," she said of the students.
Several blocks in the area were initially closed during the incident, but as of 5 p.m., only Sunnydale Avenue was blocked off between Peabody and Delta streets, Rhodes said.
The cause of the rupture, as well as a timeline for completion of the repairs, has not yet been determined, she said.
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