Water Main Break Floods 2 Families From Homes

The drawings Rolando Solorzando had labored over for his architecture class at Montgomery College were underwater, and the three-bedroom house he shared with family had a signed posted outside declaring it uninhabitable after a water main break early Thursday flooded two Hyattsville homes.

"The worst part about it is that I spent so much time working on my projects," said Solorzando, who shares the home in the 3900 block of Queensbury Road with his wife, his mother and two other family members.

At its high point, four feet of water had flooded their basement.

"I am not okay," said Marivel Chevez, Solorzando's mother, as she tried to clean her shoes with muddy water.

Lyn Riggins, spokeswoman for the Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission, said that a 16-inch pipe ruptured about 3 a.m. near Queens Chapel and Queensbury roads. Northbound lanes of Queens Chapel between Queensbury and Route 410 were closed for several hours as crews worked to repair the break.

Riggins said it probably would take much of the day to repair the break. At least 16 homes would be without water for four to six hours. And officials were working to provide temporary housing for the Solorzando family and their neighbors the Delcos. Fernando Delco, who has lived on Queensberry for 16 years, said he lost clothes, bookshelves, a washer and a dryer.

It was unclear when either family would be able to return home.

Riggins said there are about 5,500 miles of water main pipelines between Prince George's and Montgomery counties. "The number of water main breaks continues to increase because we have a number of old pipes in our distribution system," she said.

As Riggins stood with WSSC crew members digging up mud to get down to the ruptured main, she told a colleague, "It is going to be a long winter."