San Diego water crews worked to fix three unrelated water main breaks around the city Monday morning.
One of the more disruptive breaks happened in Linda Vista around 6 a.m. Sunday in the 7300 block of Fulton Street.
"The police woke us up,” said resident Gloria Molina. “It was like a river.”
The mud and water washed into people's yards and driveways, but no homes were flooded.
The break left behind a big mess which 88-year-old Jim Corvinus was just starting to assess. He says his car acted like a dam and stopped a lot of the water. Fortunately for him the water stayed on the outside.
"I feel I'm lucky," Corvinus said. "It's a good little car."
He says the water was ten inches deep and then there was the mud.
"It was about three inches up of mud up the sidewalk here," Corvinus said.
Several residents went without water for most of the day.
"We don't have water. I don't know when they’re going to fix it or what's going to happen," said Molina.
The water department says the broken eight-inch cast iron pipe was probably about 60 years old and just worn out.
Another break happened around 7:30 a.m. in East San Diego, when an 8-inch cast iron pipe broke at 47th Street and Monroe Avenue.
A third break closed Broadway between Pacific Highway and India Street just before 10 a.m. downtown. The 16-inch main broke at Broadway at Kettner Boulevard.
All three of the breaks are being blamed on old pipes. Water was expected to be restored by 7 a.m. Monday.