Hi All. Well it had to happen sooner or later. San Benito Street, which is the main street through downtown Hollister, was flooded today.

An 8-inch water line broke. Between 800,000 and a million gallons was released before they could get it shut down. A little more then two weeks ago there was break in the sewage disposal plant. Over two million gallons of untreated sewage went into the San Benito River.

Not sure as to why the berm at the sewage plant broke. Could be the plant can’t handle all of it.

The water line that broke is located two blocks east of the Calaveras fault and runs parallel to the fault. There is some speculation that the 1989 Loma Prieta quake may have cracked the cast iron line, and with the added demand placed on it in the last couple of years it just gave up the ghost. It caused the pavement in the street to raise almost 14 inches in some places.

A number of stores were flooded. Most of them were located east of the break as that is downhill from the water line. Take Care…Don in creepy town