iStockphoto / olando_o
A home owner in Edison, New Jersey got absolutely crushed when a contractor doing work in the area accidentally ruptured a water main causing a 30-inch break. The resulting geyser of water released sent so much water blasting straight at the house that it actually caused the roof to peel back.
Two homes were under forced evacuation after the incident and the Middlesex Water Company is now investigating how the incident occurred and the contractor responsible for the water main break. Footage of the water being blasted at the house immediately went viral across TikTok and YouTube with people in disbelief at how so much water could be shot straight at a home.
@abc7ny Water douses a house at a high rate of speed after a water main break in Edison, New Jersey
Local news stations immediately picked up the story as this isn’t something that happens very often. And for any homeowner watching it, it’s hard to fathom this happening to their own home. I guess the silver lining is if the homeowner had any cosmetic changes they wanted to do to their home they will almost certainly be getting paid for this egregious error:
…If you’re a neighbor, would it be wrong to tailgate that? It’s not as if you could stop the water main damage yourself, but is it wrong to look? You’ll only get the chance to see something like that once in your life…
Edison, NJ Mayor Sam Joshi told ABC 7 NY over 100 valves had to be shut off in order to stop the water flow that was blasting the home like a firehose. One nearby resident said “I was very scared. It was coming at a certain angle. If it came at another angle, it could’ve hit any of these other houses.”
Due to the concentrated direction of the water blast, close residents were spared. Next door neighbor Frank Adinolfes said “I was afraid if I opened the door, we would see a lot of water. But no water at all, so we really lucked out. But my neighbor really got it next door to us.”
Ultimately, nobody was injured due to the water main break but the woman living in the house has to find a new place to stay while damage is assessed and treated accordingly.