A water main ruptured Tuesday morning spilling a flood of water down W. Main St. in Elkin.

Robert Fuller, town of Elkin Utilities Director, said the burst pipe was reported to the Elkin Police Department around 7 a.m.

The water was turned off on Main St. between Johnson Funeral Home and the bridge before the Elkin Public Library to make the repair to the pipe.

Fuller said this break in the water main is just one of many that have occurred throughout the area since mid-December, five of them the utility crew considered to be "big."

As to the cause of so many water pipe problems lately, Fuller said "The ground freezes and moves. We have old cast iron pipes that don't like to move."

The town of Elkin utility crew was hard at work at 9:30 a.m. digging up the street to make the repair.

The hole in the water main only measured an inch or two, and wasn't considered to be too bad by the crew.

Repairing the hole in the pipe involves digging through the pavement and mud, cleaning the area of pipe around the hole, and installing a stainless steel band with a rubber insert around the pipe to patch the hole.

Fuller estimated the water to W. Main St. would be turned back on by 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.