ASHEBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Asheboro neighbors reacted to a water main break that caused a sinkhole in downtown Asheboro on Monday.

“I heard ‘brrr’, like a water sound, and I was scared. When I saw, I was like ‘oh my God,'” Mohammod Zubrair said.

Zubair lives in front of the Asheboro water tower. He was sitting in his living room when he heard a loud noise just after 5:30 a.m. on Monday.

“From the window, I was like ‘it’s like a flood from the river.’ It was unbelievable,” he said.

Church Street, where the break happened, is about a block away from City Hall.

Crews detoured traffic around the area for most of the day as they used equipment to clear streets of the mud and stop the water flowing in all directions, 

“The alarm went off that we were losing water. We have a system that tells us when the water system starts draining,” said Michael Rhoney, the city of Asheboro water resources director. 

The water came out of the tower, which holds about 500,000 gallons of water. In less than 30 minutes, it was empty. 

“We do have water main breaks a lot, and this is a big one…it just happens throughout our system,” Rhoney said.

There’s no official cause of the water main break, but city leaders say aging infrastructure played a role.

Crews are hoping to have everything repaired by Monday night.