Minneapolis water main a 14M-gallon gusher

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MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Minneapolis officials said Friday testing would be done to assure the safety of drinking water after a main break flooded streets a day earlier.

Fourteen million gallons of water gushed out Thursday after a construction backhoe broke a main water line, turning at least one street into a waist-deep river, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

The cost of the incident -- which flooded a number of vehicles, shut down businesses and left a large portion of the city without water for a time -- had yet to be tallied. A few businesses were expected to be without water until Sunday, the newspaper said.

The broken pipe, buried under debris and dirt, had yet to be uncovered and repaired.

City officials assured residents the water remained potable because pressure in the system kept it moving toward the break, rather than allowing back flow that might contaminate the water supply across a wider area.

The city was to test the water within a several-block radius to reassure people.