by KYW’s David Madden and Al Novack

A broken 30-inch water main turned a North Philadelphia intersection into a lake for a time this morning.  But within a couple of hours the lake was gone and the cleanup had begun.

A 19th-century cast iron “transmission” main burst under 9th Street near Berks, between two Philadelphia Gas Works buildings, just as Karen Williams was waking up:

“I looked out my window and there was just water everywhere. You’d just look outside and there was water up to people’s cars.”

Most of those cars were in a PGW employee parking lot. Only one house had to have its basement pumped out and no one lost water service.  But helicopter video showed some cars nearly up to their window frames in water.

The main is being repaired and insurance adjusters are assessing damage claims.

A Philadelphia streets department crew had repaved 9th Street in the area of the break earlier in the week, according to PGW, but it’s unclear if that work had anything to do with compromising the integrity of the water main.