Water Main Breaks, Flooding West Tulsa Apartments

For the second time this week a water main break left a Tulsa neighborhood under water near 23rd and Maybelle.

Crews planned to work overnight to repair the pipe.

What could have been mistaken for a rolling river was actually an apartment complex parking lot.

2/5/2014 Related Story: Pipe Break Cuts Off Water To West Tulsa Apartment Complexes

Riverview Park Apartment resident Tabitha Robinson, said, "You got neighbors scrambling to get their cars and everything out of here, I mean, it flooded quick."

Robinson watched as the water raged toward her Riverview Park apartment.

"We looked out the window and we saw it coming over the fence," Robinson said.

Not long after that, the rusty-brown water had made its way inside the place she calls home.

"It came waving into our apartment and that's why I've got towels down here, because you just saw brown water start to come in," said Robinson.

Sand bags blocked Robinson's front door; her best defense to keep the water out.

Just around the corner, Sarah Custer and her daughter were staying dry on the second floor of their apartment.

"It's pretty crazy," Custer said. "I opened the door and it's at, like, the edge. Like, the door's right there and it's, like, right there."

Custer said she felt stranded, but had a plan if she did have to leave.

"Probably put some bags on my feet," Custer said. "So my feet won't get wet."

But others neighbors didn't mind getting their feet wet. One woman shed her shoes and braved the ice-cold water by walking home in her bare feet.

It was Wednesday that the city dug up the same street to replace a six-inch water line. That line connected to a larger 16-inch main, and that's what snapped Friday.

The city said it shut off water to the complex while crews repaired the pipe, leaving residents with the same frustrations they had just a few days ago.

"No telling how long that's gonna be. We just came back from my mom's last night, after the water being shut off for a couple of days. I'm just hoping it's taken care of soon," said Robinson.

Crews repaired 15 water lines Friday and continued to work through the night. They hope to have everything fixed sometime Saturday.