Residents were forced to evacuate their homes after being flooded when a torrent of rushing water from a burst government pipeline hit them.
The major water main connected to a major dam in Sydney split at Como, in the city’s south, around midday on Friday, flooding nearby homes on Binya Place and Inelgah Road.
Fences were toppled, windows smashed and backyards washed away at the worst-hit properties.
One resident, Michelle Bunch, said she feared her home could be flooded, causing major damage.
“It hit the windows, we thought they were going to fall apart,” Mrs Bunch said Nine news.
The Sydney Water-maintained pipeline connects to the Woronora Dam, which supplies water to several suburbs south of the Georges River, including Sutherland, Cronulla, Engadine, Heathcote and Helensburg.
It, like most water pipes in Australia’s largest cities, has been around for over half a century, having been constructed in 1942, with researchers from the University of Technology Sydney saying the average age of our water infrastructure is 80 years old.
The large flow exploded in nearby houses at Binya Place and Inelgah Road, quickly flooding them (water shown flooding a house near the pipeline)
The flood caused part of the roof of Mrs. Bunch’s house to collapse, destroying some of the family’s belongings.
The destruction has forced them from their homes and they will have to look for alternative housing.
“It was quite terrifying,” Ms Bunch said.
A spokeswoman for Sydney Water told Daily Mail Australia that agency crews have isolated the main pipe and repairs are currently underway to repair the pipe.
“Network engineers were on site to assess a leak in the main line when it burst,” the spokeswoman said.
“Customer advocates are on site working with affected customers and assessing damages.
“Sydney Water apologizes for any inconvenience caused to our customers.”
The NSW State Emergency Services said some homes were badly affected by water damage, while others suffered only superficial damage.
Australia’s 140,000 km of water pipes are on average 80 years old and the aging network is prone to failures.
Professor Fang Chen and Associate Professor Yang Wang lead an award-winning team of scientists in the UTS Data Science Institute, who are researching ways to identify potential breaches before they happen.
“Like a human octogenarian, this infrastructure needs closer monitoring and ‘preventive medicine’ to keep it strong,” Professor Feng said.
Working with more than 30 utilities in Australia and internationally, they have investigated 1 million pipe failures for 10 million pipes over the past decade.
The team has developed a computerized model to predict where errors are most likely to occur before the infrastructure breaks down.
Sydney Water crews and technicians have isolated the main line and repairs are currently underway to repair the pipe (pictured crews are repairing the cracked water main in the ruptured pipe)
On Friday, residents reportedly informed Sydney Water around 6am that a hissing sound was coming from the pipe before it ruptured.
The agency inspected the site at 7:30 a.m. and they reportedly resolved the issue.
However, the pipeline burst just hours later.
The cause of the fracture has yet to be confirmed.
Sydney Water is the main supplier of drinking water throughout the Harbor City and the agency serves five million customers.