Truck to rescue as water main bursts

A Citycare Water worker stemmed the geyser from a burst water main in Kaikorai Valley Road this afternoon by backing his truck over it.

The burst water main caused excitement for staff at a car dealership this afternoon, after water cascaded through their showroom roof.

Midway Motors owner Chris Henderson said contractors had been doing maintenance on the water meters most of the day, but there had been a problem with one of the meters which ran under his property.

‘‘About an hour ago we heard a horrific boom, and a valve landed up on the roof, and there was a whole lot of water,’’ Mr Henderson said.

He believed a valve had broken off the meter causing the ‘‘specialty water feature’’ over his business.

Mr Henderson said the water was still spouting an hour later but one of the workers had backed their truck over the leak to prevent it spraying over the roof of the building.

‘‘A whole lot of water overcame our canopy and roof, so our showroom is completely flooded and ruined . . . It’s completely collapsed,’’ he said.

He said the maintenance team was looking to find a valve to shut the water off, but they had been communicating with his business about the progress.

‘‘These things happen, we just get on with it, ’’ he said.

cas.saunders@odt.co.nz