Water main break floods streets near Temple

A 30-inch water main burst this morning, flooding streets and surrounding cars in a North Philadelphia neighborhood near the Temple University campus for more than an hour.

Several buildings were evacuated in the area of the break on the 1800 block of North Ninth Street, a mostly industrial area east of Temple's campus.

Water rose above the tires on cars in a Philadelphia Gas Works parking lot at Ninth and Berks. On the south side of Berks, water flowed into the bottom of a PGW building - and later spurted back out around the edges of the closed doors.

Honor Barth parked her Toyota Matrix on Ninth Street shortly before 6 a.m., arriving early for her customer relations job for PGW.

About 6:15, she said, a coworker said he heard gushing, and she rushed out to her car.

"I came out right away," she said. "It was up to my knees."

No way she could get to her car, because the water was rushing so fast. "I knew it would knock me over," she said, showing the mud stains on her white pants and white sandals.

Some campus buildings had no water, while others had reduced water pressure.

The flood gradually subsided as crews shut off valves to other mains and feeder lines. By 7:45 a.m., Ninth and Berks was still a muddy pool, and an inch of mud covered surfaces for a hundred yards in all directions.

The break occurred on Ninth Street just north of Montgomery Avenue and the building housing PGW's executive offices.

Fire Department and Philadelphia Water Department officials responded to the scene.

One man in yellow boots waded into the water to retrieve a Nissan Maxima.