SEATTLE -- Water spilled into homes and 10 blocks of a north Seattle neighborhood after a 12-inch water main broke just after 1 p.m. Tuesday.

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The broken main spewed water onto streets and into yards and homes at 300 gallons per minute for more than an hour before crews were able the stop the flow, Joe Mickelson at Seattle Public Utilities told KIRO.

Mickelson said the process took so long because several valves had to be turned off.

“One of the valves was buried with two feet of water, and we couldn't get to it. We had to back up and go down the street,” Mickelson said.

Mickelson said the main was about two feet underground. The force of the rushing water buckled the street and threw up gravel.

Damage to 6 to 8 homes occurred in a two- to three-block area closest to the water main break in the Ravenna neighborhood.

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People who live in the area have put down sandbags to stop floodwaters from coming into their yards.

Video from Chopper 7 showed rushing water flooding a home and the street in the area of Northeast 80th Street and 24th Avenue Northeast.

The cause of the break is not yet known, but Mickelson said it could have been a bad casting on the pipe.

Crews hope to have the water turned back on by midnight Tuesday, Mickelson said.

Metro Transit said some buses are being rerouted around the flooded area.