Huge pothole emerges after burst water main in Gosford
The mother of all potholes has emerged in NSW Central Coast region after a water main burst and forced the evacuation of more than 30 homes.
NSW
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The mother of all potholes has emerged in Gosford after a water main burst and forced the evacuation of more than 30 homes.
Emergency crews were called to the corner of Wells and Wattle streets about 6pm last night following reports the “major water main” had burst on the top of a hill.
Firefighters were forced to evacuate about 50 people in 30 homes as they became flooded.
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Wells Street resident Tim Underwood said water was flowing “like a river” at the back of his property.
“It went down the back of our place and the water was flowing like a river,” he said.
“Next door has a lawned area and it was covering that with a floor of water. Boundary fences were damaged. There’s been quite a number of houses affected, there’s going to be some remedial work for water damage. You can imagine (the water) on the walls and carpets. Also, mould can be an issue.”
Mr Underwood said his wife had been told council workers found the burst water main could date back to the 1920s.
“Apparently they found an old lead pipe from the 1920s that ha fractured, they were trying to work out how they’re going to replace it,” he said.
“People are obviously pissed off, a water main bursting is something you don’t want to happen.”
It took council workers about 40 minutes before they could stop the water flowing down the hill.
Central Coast-based Fire and Rescue NSW duty commander Mark Delves said the fact the water main was at the top of the hill only worsened the incident.
“It’s the size of this main and the location that was pretty (remarkable),” he said.
“The houses had various levels of damage, some of the lower residing places copped a lot of water through their houses and garages.
“It ruptured for an unknown reason and there was a lot of water (coming out) on the top of the hill.
“We checked on the safety of residents, there’s an electric risk, so we go in and evacuate the residents and try as best we can to divert the water.”
Pictures of the scene show a massive pothole that emerged where the water main burst.
An investigation has been launched to determine what led to the incident.
The damage comes after a new report from the NRMA revealed a 30 per cent spike in the backlog of pot-hold and deteriorating NSW roads needing repairs sine 2015.
A Central Coast Council spokesman said up to 11 houses had been damaged by water.
“Council works to resolve water outages as quickly as possible and apologises for any inconvenience caused when outages do occur,” he said.
The council was forced to cut the water supply to more than 190 residents as crews frantically worked to fix the burst main.
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