ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A water main break caused major disruptions along King Street in Old Town, Alexandria on Wednesday.
Around 9:30 a.m., witnesses say they heard a loud noise and then looked out to see water shooting up out of the ground from the middle of the roadway.
King Street between Route 1 and S Alfred Street was shut down all day, as crews worked to make repairs.
"It was basically just a river of water going down King Street," said Boyd Walker who lives nearby and also owns a building along King Street.
"It's spring break so we have a lot of visitors. It's not what I want to see. But you know I understand we live in a historic city and these cast iron pipes are probably a hundred years old," he said.
"I could see the water just coming out of the ground," said Niko Papaloizou, the manager of Taverna Cretekou.
He said their water was shut off and they had no choice but to shut down for the day.
"40 to 50 people had reservations. We had to call and tell them we were not available and a lot of them were upset with the situation, but we had no running water," said Papaloizou.
Around 11 a.m., Virginia American Water sent out a tweet letting residents know that they were working to make repairs to a water main break in the 800 block of King Street.
They shared that approximately 28 premises & 3 fire hydrants would experience low water pressure or no water while the repairs were being made.
"There was a huge gap in the pipe that's a main water line," said Jose Alvarenga, a worker with Utility Unlimited.
He and his crew worked tirelessly to pull that pipe out and install a brand new one. They had finished that by 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, a spokesperson for Virginia American Water told WUSA9 that the repairs had been made and that water was in the process of being restored.
By 10 p.m., crews had started repaving the roadway, and just before 11 p.m., they reopened the roadway.
As for what caused it?
"Alexandria Old Town, the pipes are old. Eventually they burst and that's when we come in and replace them with new ones," said Alvarenga.