Water main break in Normal Heights

Hundreds of people in Normal Heights were without water Friday night, January 4, after a water main broke at 32nd and Meade Avenue at around 4 p.m. Crews were still working to repair the main at 8:30 p.m. and estimated it would be finished by midnight.

Houses, apartments, and condos were all dry in the blocks from El Cajon Boulevard to Meade Avenue, from 32nd Street to 34th (which is actually five blocks).

"It was a main that broke," the water department dispatcher said. "Everyone is calling us about it."

Kind neighbors north of Meade shared buckets of water for flushing toilets, and residents ran to the neighborhood grocery stores to stock up on bottled water, worried that the repair would run into problems and not be finished by Saturday morning.

"I figure that buying the water means I won't need it," one resident said.