A dramatic spectacle unfolded in Balgownie on Tuesday after a burst water main caused flooding, traffic chaos and left a bus balancing over a two-metre deep hole.
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The drama began at about 3.30pm when a broken pipe blew a huge crater in the bitumen at the busy corner of Balgownie and Foothills roads, shooting a stream of water into the air.
A bus with several passengers on board then became lodged in the ruptured road, teetering over a hole which Wollongong Police Inspector Brian Wyver said was about four metres wide and two metres deep.
Emergency service crews, including police, fire and State Emergency Services worked with a tow truck to free the bus from the hole.
‘‘The bus was working sort of like a plug, and it was stopping the water from spurting up in the air so they had to turn the water off first and then the bus’s petrol tank was sitting on the rim of the crater,’’ Insp Wyver said.
‘‘So they had to raise the bus up and then push it.’’
He said passengers and the driver were unharmed.
A little later in the evening, a man - reportedly from Wollongong City Council - sustained minor injuries after being hit by a vehicle while directing traffic about 100 metres up the road from the burst water main.
Photographer David Finlay, who lives in Fairy Meadow, was driving to buy petrol at Balgownie at about 6pm when he noticed the bus lodged in the crater and rushed to get his camera.
‘‘It’s not like you see a bus sticking up out of the ground in Balgownie every day,’’ he said.
‘‘There was a lot of debris over the road.
‘‘I didn’t see the actual water main burst but it must have been pretty spectacular because it looked like a tsunami had gone down the road.
‘‘There were small boulders that were strewn everywhere, so the force of the water must have been extraordinary.’’
Mr Finlay said there were ‘‘easily a couple of hundred people’’ watching the scene unfold, as well a number of residents working to clean up their front yards which were affected by debris and flooding.
The incident cut off water supply to hundreds of homes in Balgownie, Tarrawanna and Corrimal, and Sydney Water crews were still working to redirect water from another pipe and restore water to about 150 homes on Tuesday night.
Detours were put in place and residents reported having difficulties returning to their homes.
The roads remained closed on Tuesday night, with a Sydney Water spokeswoman saying the company would work overnight to ensure water supply was returned and the road was secured.
She said the company would launch a full investigation into the incident and work with the council to ensure the road could re-open in the coming days.