According to a D.C. WASA spokeswoman, the break was the result of a 12-inch coupling that popped off after crews had performed a routine valve replacement the night before. Water had already been shut off for much of the morning, but when water pressure returned around noon, the valve malfunctioned, causing the coupling to break. Businesses on the east side of 18^th Street between Florida Avenue and Columbia Road were forced to close early or endure expansive lakes of water.

Niel Piferoen, owner of the Belgian café and restaurant Locolat, bemoaned the lack of water for severely limiting his menu options.

“There’s only a limited service that you can do [without water],” said Piferoen. “You couldn’t sell any coffee, you couldn’t sell any tea; the only thing you could do was sell beer and wine. You can’t even do any food because you can’t do any dishes.”

An employee at Duccini’s Pizza, an establishment across the street, echoed Piferoen.

“The police and fire department blocked all the [streets], so there is no walking,” said the employee, who wished to remain anonymous. “So even if you work in the store, you can’t come in or drive, so everybody’s in. We had a few orders that we couldn’t deliver. There was not even carryout.”

Some business owners, however, did not lose water, despite their proximity to the break. For example, El Tamarindo, a Mexican/Salvadoran restaurant across the sidewalk from the spewing water main, was fine—underscoring D.C.’s occasionally perplexing water system.

“We never had our water shut off, but the sidewalk in front of us was closed off, and there was water spewing everywhere, so it wasn’t very attractive,” said El Tamarindo owner Javier Reyes, whose daughter translated from Spanish. “Customers thought it was closed because we didn’t have water, so it did affect the business.”

The break was fixed by 1 a.m. this morning, but WASA has informed City Desk that there have been reports of water damage on the 1700 block of U Street, the severity of which is still unknown.

"River Road is a raging torrent of water. River Road is closed between Seven Locks and Bradley Boulevard.

A Maryland State Police helicopter has been lowering baskets down to the cars. The people inside then carefully climbing into them.

The rescues are not far from the entrance to Congressional Country Club.

Montgomery County Police tell WTOP Traffic that a 66-inch water main pump burst"

You can watch the coverage unfold live.

Update 9:20 a.m.: The Post has its story up on the on-going rescues along River Road. They've made some calls:

Officials at the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission could not immediate provide details of when and how the underground water pipe broke in the vicinity of River Road and Fenway Drive.

But the result — waves of water covering River Road for several blocks — left several cars trapped. Helicopters hovered over the scene, the whirring of their propellers adding to the stiff winds and blowing the already high waves over the sides of the trapped vehicles.

WJLA is reporting that MOCO police received a call for the water main break at 7:55 a.m. Those on the scene are estimating that the water is between four and five feet high. The station has this graph that should trouble people:

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission confirms that this is a 66 inch water main break. They cannot get to the area to shut the water off right now and are trying to go further up the line to shut it off.