'This has to be a prank': Water main break floods east Houston home

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Imagine this: a construction crew across the street from you hits a large water pipe, water shoots out into the air, and suddenly your home is flooded.

"This cannot be real. This has to be a prank on me," Chris Lopez said. "This is like me waiting for Ashton Kutcher and him saying, 'You've been punked.'"

There are no hidden cameras or celebrities here. Unfortunately, real life can be even stranger than a prank TV show.

"Just my house was in a monsoon, only my house," Lopez said. "The only way I can describe it would be water coming out of a hose from a fire truck, but at least ten times bigger, if not more."

"A freaking waterfall," Lopez's roommate, Brianna Garza, described.

Lopez and Garza have spent the day cleaning up, and some of their belongings are too severely damaged to repair.

They have insurance, so they hope to be repaid for some costs.

But they want to know why it took city crews so long to shut off the water.

Surely, some of the damage could have been avoided.

Houston Public Works said the first 311 call came in at 6:43 pm.

A supervisor arrived on the scene at 8:25 p.m., and city workers turned off the water at 9:30 p.m.

We're told that that nearly three-hour delay is about average, especially for an after-hours call.

"I don't know who to blame, I don't know if it's the city's fault, if it's the contractor's fault, I don't know anything," Lopez said. "I'm trying to figure out what to do."

For more on this story, follow Pooja Lodhia on Facebook,X and Instagram.