"Go back," a man yelled at a driver heading toward a gushing water pipe at the intersection of 25th Avenue and Kearney Street.
The driver turned the car around, narrowly escaping the flood.
Water surged from a pipe through North Park Hill on Thursday morning, flooding the intersection. Nearby yards and streets turned into lakes, as water rushed and then eddied from McAuliffe International School to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Glencoe Street, where people splashed their way through a torrent.
The immediate site of the broken pipe flooded mightily. But along the roads beyond, the drains largely did what drains are supposed to do: carry muck and water to the South Platte River.
"A Denver Water crew responded to the scene of a 24-inch pipe break at East 25th Avenue and Kearney Street around 11 a.m.," wrote Denver Water spokesperson Jimmy Luthye early Thursday afternoon. "They isolated the break and shut the water off within the last hour."
So what caused the break?
"We do not know the cause of the break at this time and it is possible we won’t be able to determine exact cause," Luthye explained. "In general, breaks occur based on the condition of the pipe and its surroundings — including pipe age, pipe material, soil corrosivity, water flow, temperature and more. Every break is different but fixing them safely and quickly is always our top priority."
If you're hoping to get through that intersection later today, give up.
"There is no timetable at this time for repairs to be complete," noted Luthye. "Work will last into the overnight hours."
We'll update this post if we learn what caused the break.
