Crews work to fix Bucktown water main break near Armitage, Damen

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The weather may be to blame for a water main break in Chicago's Bucktown neighborhood.

A large amount of water flooded the street near Armitage and Damen on the Northwest Side Thursday morning.

It's a day off in winter for Elvin Rodriguez. He spent it saving his family's stuff from an inner city flood.

"Started seeing a bunch of commotion outside and we saw that the water main had burst right in front of the bank and slowly but surely trickled down," Rodriguez said. "We have a garden unit and we're below grade, so all the water that was running into the driveway of the bank started pouring into our backyard ultimately went through the doors and went through some of the walls."

The married father of two called 311.

"It started to come up into the center, then that side started to come up, it was very fast - I had to go to the basement to pick up boxes to make sure everything was ok," said Michelle Hernandez, a 911 caller.

Water was shut off before noon, and the city hopes to repair the pipe by Thursday evening. In the meantime, parts of Armitage will be closed as crews work in the area.

"Likely it's probably weather-related, another piece of aging infrastructure that, it's time has come and now it is going to be replaced," said Peter Scales, City of Chicago Water Department.