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All Lanes Open After Miami Water Line Break Causes Road Collapse

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It took crews nearly eight hours Thursday to fix water main break that caused a Miami road to collapse.

Chopper4 was over the scene earlier in the day and spotted the hole is in the northbound lanes of SW 27 Avenue right before US1.

The break and road collapse happened around 12:45 p.m.

"The amount of water that was flushing out into our streets and the local businesses, it's really affecting us," said Frankie Pe, who works at a barbershop nearby.

He told CBS4's Ty Russell how he found out there was a hole in the road.

"We we're doing a grooming service and out of nowhere we saw people running. They were hysterical," he said.

People were running to safety away from the broken 8-inch pipe.

City crews were able to stop the water from flowing around 2 p.m. They then enlarged the hole to get to the break.

The northbound lanes on SW 27 Avenue were closed to between US1 and SW 28 Lane for hours.

Pe, who said he was briefly without water, was concerned the road closure would impact foot traffic.

"I don't think it's fair for me or my team members. We have families. It's the holidays. It's not easy for us," he said. "This is affecting us in our pocket."

Miami-Dade Water and Sewer doesn't know what caused the break.

A spokesperson believes this was a natural cause since no crews were working in the area.

Miami-Dade Water and Sewer said that businesses and residents nearby don't have to boil their water.

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