Editor's Note: This story was originally published April 9 at 10:40 a.m. An update on the repairs and closure (along with updated pictures) can be found here.
Original story as follows:
Crews are working to repair a Murrieta road Wednesday that apparently cracked apart due to water pressure from beneath it.
According to Murrieta Fire Captain Matt Corelli, a water main broke in the area of California Oaks Road and Hancock Avenue, around 7 a.m.
"Basically all the water that was coming under the road," he told Patch. "It started raising the asphalt up."
Corelli said the fire department responded to help set up the closure and clear the area of vehicles.
"All the asphalt was bubbling up... it looked like it was peeling up from the ground," he described.
The water line belongs to Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District, and workers from that agency were on scene as of 10:30 a.m. assessing the damage.
District Spokesman Greg Morrison said it's not yet clear how much water came rushing out of the line, but said it was likely thousands of gallons due to the tremendous pressure on that area.
"It was a 16 inch PVC water line that comes right off of our main pump station where were import water from Lake Skinner, so it's under a tremendous amount of pressure," he told Patch.
According to Morrison, some EVMWD customers were temporarily without water service Wednesday morning, but crews had that restored to them within about 45 minutes of the original leak.
"However the damage to the road requires us to close down a section of Cal Oaks road," he said, adding that there's not yet an estimate as to when the roadway will reopen.
Closures were initially placed at Hancock and Falcon Way, Tarragona Drive and Cal Oaks on the north end, and Sky View Ridge and Cal Oaks on south end.
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