A water main burst on Escondido Road at approximately 10:30 p.m. yesterday, causing water to gush out onto the street for more than 90 minutes late last night. The water threatened to flood Branner and Kimball Halls before the Department of Facility Operations (FacOps) managed to turn off and isolate the water pipe from operation shortly after midnight, preventing damage to the buildings.

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Kimball residents look on as water from a broken water main on Escondido Road threatens to flood the dorm. Stanford Department of Facility Operations personnel managed to isolate the break and stop the flow of water shortly after midnight last night after it gushed along the street for 90 minutes. #gallery http://daily.stanford.org/image/full/8357
Jeff Keacher

Kimball residents look on as water from a broken water main on Escondido Road threatens to flood the dorm. Stanford Department of Facility Operations personnel managed to isolate the break and stop the flow of water shortly after midnight last night after it gushed along the street for 90 minutes.

Chris Sicchio, a FacOps water systems technician, was in charge of dealing with the situation.

“A six-inch lake water main burst,” Sicchio said. “I managed to isolate the valves on Campus [Drive] and Arguello [Way] and Campus [Drive] and Serra Street, and turned off the water supply to the corresponding pipe, which solved the problem.”

The initial break occurred on Escondido Road, just outside of the main entrance of Toyon Hall, and the water gushed out of the broken pipe and rushed east toward Branner and Kimball, flooding much of that side of the road. Cars parked on Escondido Road could be seen with their front tires submerged under nearly a foot of dark, muddy water. The sidewalk on that side of the street was also under water.

While Sicchio could not provide a definite reason for the initial break, he said that pipes break for a variety of reasons.

“The age of the pipes is a big determinant,” he said. “These pipes are old, and that is what most likely caused the problem. Other issues could be a tree root pushing on it, or an earthquake — which wasn’t the case this time.”

A number of police officers from the Department of Public Safety (DPS) were the first on the scene, responding to a call from a Branner Resident Assistant (RA). DPS Deputy Victor Lee explained that since the police did not have the necessary tools to deal with such a situation, they were only there to provide assistance if required.

“We are on the scene in case the situation becomes worse,” Lee said. “We want to prevent damage to property, and, if needed, we are immediately on hand to evacuate and advise residents.”

Branner, Kimball and Toyon Halls were not directly affected by the stream of muddy water, which nearly flooded both Branner and Kimball but was turned off before it managed to reach the buildings.

“Since the water was lake water from Felt Lake and Searsville Lake, it only affects the sprinkler systems, and water to the buildings remains uninterrupted,” Lee said. “If it was domestic water, we would bring out our 24-hour on-call team to deal with the situation immediately.”

While there was no damage to the buildings, the force of water eroded portions of Escondido Road.

“The asphalt has been eroded away and lifted up,” said Lee. “This poses a risk to the public, since we do not know what the status of the road is at the moment.”

At press time, DPS had cordoned off the damaged section of road to make the public aware of the situation.

Sicchio added that a team from FacOps would probably be dispatched in the early hours of the morning in order to deal with the road and water pipe. He also said that the University has a good water system, and such accidents do not occur frequently.

Some students left their dorm rooms and came out into the street to observe the situation.

“It looked oddly like a horizontal waterfall,” said Claire Kouba ‘11. “It was amusing to see.”