UPDATE: Water Main Ruptures on Duarte Road, Floods Monrovia Business

A Gold Line construction crew ruptured a mater main on Duarte Road Friday morning and the massive amount of water leaking from the pipe caused a flood at a local business.

The crew cracked the water main at about 8:27 a.m. at the insection of Duarte Road and California Avenue, causing 10,000 gallons of water per minute to gush out of the pipe, Monrovia Police Sgt. Dan Verna said. Police officers in the area saw the initial rupture, he said.

"They saw ...a big gush of water squirt up in the air and it started flooding the intersection and then flowing down California," Verna said.

A custom fence business in the 400 block of East Duarte Road was flooded with about six inches of water before officers and firefighters were able to block off the water with sandbags, Verna said.

The pipe is one of the city's primary water mains, he said.

"Because of the amount of water, apparently they're not able to easily shut it off," he said.

The water flow was eventually re-directed down California Avenue and emptied into the San Gabriel River, Verna said. The water was shut off at abou 10:30 a.m.

Lisa Levy Buch, a spokeswoman for the Gold Line Construction Authority, said that the crews are investigating the cause of the rupture.

"They're still investigating it and they're not exactly sure what happened," Buch said.

Habib Balian, CEO of the GLCA, said in a statement that the water lines were decades old.

"We know that the line is 60-70 years old, and that the rupture occurred while the line was being prepared for upcoming work," he wrote.

The extent of the damage and the amount of time the California Avenue Gold Line crossing project will be delayed is unknown, Buch said