Reservoir Accident Floods Houses : Fillmore: A hillside water main is accidentally severed and sends a river of rocks and mud down a residential street.

Three houses on Fillmore’s Foothill Drive were flooded and 250,000 gallons of water were lost Saturday afternoon when workers building a new reservoir in the hills above the city ruptured an eight-inch water main.

The pipe from an existing water tank was severed about 1:30 p.m. as workers from R & H Paving of Saticoy were removing asphalt from the site.

The water, about 75% of an acre-foot, carried rocks and mud down the sloped street into the garages and basements of the three houses. An acre-foot is enough water for a family of five for a year.

Doris Shelley, who lives in the 300 block of Foothill Drive just below the construction site, said the gush of water “was like Yellowstone--you know, a geyser,” shooting about three feet into the air from the pipe. Her house was not flooded.

Ron and Debbie Vierra were doing yardwork behind their house in the 400 block of the circular street when neighbor David McDonald warned them about the rapidly moving stream of water.

“I couldn’t believe how fast it came up,” Debbie Vierra said. “The basement and the garage were soaked.” The Vierras lost some landscaping, but two hours after the incident were not able to put a dollar figure on the damage.

The couple said the water was knee-deep in the street in front of their house. They used bedspreads and canvas bags to protect part of the garage, and they improvised sand bags for another neighbor who was away from home at the time.

McDonald said his garage floor was about six inches deep in water and that some stored furniture appeared to be damaged. He was most distressed about his collection of baseball memorabilia, including player autographs he said were irreplaceable.

John Kozar, Fillmore’s public works superintendent, said there would have been less damage if the incident occurred on a weekday, when his crew was readily available. Although the local volunteer Fire Department was on the scene within minutes to shut down one valve, it was about an hour before enough public works personnel could be rounded up to close remaining valves.

Kozar said there was no disruption of city water service and that contamination of the water supply was highly unlikely. Workers began repairing the pipe about 5 p.m. and finished before 9 p.m.

As mop-up operations began below, residents complained about the reservoir project, which drew protest from Foothill homeowners last year when the city said it had no other suitable site. “They went to great lengths to assure us that all precautions would be taken,” Shelley said. “Someone should have been watching out for this--and if no one was, why were they working?”

The engineering firm of Kennedy Jenks Chilton in Ventura designed the project and was hired to oversee construction. Earlier this month, representatives of the company received a stern lecture from the City Council after citizens complained about boulders rolling downhill into their yards while the contractor was grading the site.

As he watched the cleanup Saturday, Mayor Scott Lee acknowledged that there had been some problems during construction. “We understood that someone would be here overseeing the work on a daily basis,” Lee said. “We’ve been somewhat disappointed about their unavailability on weekends.”

No one answered the telephone at Kennedy Jenks Chilton on Saturday evening to comment on the complaint.