Portions of W. Hillsborough Avenue and N. Rome Avenue in Tampa are drying out Thursday evening after a massive water main break temporarily flooded neighborhood streets.

  • Water shut off as of 8 p.m.
  • Portions of N. Rome Ave. still shut down

Residents near the intersection had plenty of colorful descriptions for what they were seeing around 5 p.m. in the streets outside their homes.

"It was a gusher, 12-15 feet coming out of the ground," said Henry Cramer.

"It looks like a big tidal wave coming in, that's the best way I can describe it," said Barbara Coker.

"That was like Yosemite National Park over there," said Ray Alonzo.

More specifically, it was a 36-inch break that sent water shooting into the air and flooding the streets.

"Water in the road, water going into people's houses, no water pressure," Coker explained. "You turn on the water, it comes out brown and I knew something was wrong."

As of 8 p.m., the flow of water to the break has been shut off. However, due to damage to the road N. Rome Avenue remains closed from Rio Vista to Hanna.

 

As it was happening, residents stood by helplessly, fearing the water would get into their homes.

"It was between my neighbors' and my house," Alonzo said. "That's where it all drains out into the river." 

Several homes did experience minor flooding. Water line repairs began immediately, but city officials warned it may not be an easy fix.

"We'll make a final determination of how much pressure was actually lost in the system when this happened," said Elias Franco with the City of Tampa. "Once you go below a certain pressure, then we're going to issue precautionary boil water to everybody who might have been affected."

TECO Energy crews were also out Thursday evening working on power lines out of concern that water erosion might cause some lines to come down.

Drivers are advised to avoid N. Rome Avenue north of Hillsborough Avenue, as work crews are expected to be out there cleaning up for several hours.

No information has been released as to the cause of the water main break.