MILWAUKEE —

It looked like a geyser went off Thursday morning near 48th and Congress streets in Milwaukee.

As water spewed into the air, crews rush to turn off the water and start cleaning up.

"I looked out the window, and it was just water shooting across the street," said a witness who did not wish to be identified.

A towering column of water rained down on homes in this Lincoln Creek neighborhood Thursday morning.

News Chopper 12 out of Milwaukee captured the spectacle that neighbors witnessed from their doorstep.

"The water was shooting up, oh my God, as tall as the trees. And it was freezing," Becky Redmond-Walker said.

Water Works officials said the combination of cold temperatures and age likely caused the 1930s-era water main to burst, sending some area residents scrambling.

"We hurried up and ran to move our cars. The water came up to my ankles," a witness said.

Water Works monitors detected the break when there was a sudden drop in pressure in the part of the city.

City crews raced to shut off the water, impacting service to several homes and leaving behind an icy mess.

The sidewalks, the streets of the neighborhood now covered in ice.

"And the next thing you know, it built a mountain on the island full of ice from the water coming out and freezing. And the street, I couldn't tell where the street began and the island end," Redmond-Walker said.

Some drivers ignored the warning cones and rolled through the ice and flood-covered streets.

Department of Public Works crews brought in heavy equipment to start scooping and clearing the ice and salt trucks to treat the streets.

Neighbors said their homes and cars are ice-covered but not damaged.

But the sight of the water column is something they won't soon forget.

"And it was so amazing to see something like that. I felt like I was in Niagara Falls," Redmond-Walker said.

Some homes were still without water service at 5 p.m.

City crews were still at the scene, and a Water Works spokesman said repairs to the busted main were expected to take several hours.

Ashley Crabb still doesn’t know when she’ll be able to go home.

“We’re taking it day by day, doing what we can do,” she said Friday night.

Crabb and her family have been staying in a hotel provided by Greater Cincinnati Water Works since early January, when one of the city’s largest water mains burst and flooded their home. They lost almost everything. Furniture, appliances, medicine, clothes, keepsakes and her two children’s school computers disappeared into the dirty water.

At the time, Crabb called it a “crisis happening in the middle of a crisis.” Her family, which includes Crabb, her mother and two children with special needs, was homeless during a global pandemic.

FROM JANUARY: After water main break, East End family left wondering how to pick up the pieces

Now, Crabb is relying on the help of people who hear her story. Businesses have donated flooring, a new furnace and a water heater to help her replace broken appliances; strangers donated a washer, dryer and stove.

One of the earliest and most diligent supporters was Gretchen Bayer, her son's teacher.

“If it wasn't for her and a couple family members, I don't know where we would be right now,” Crabb said Friday.

Bayer said she was happy to help.

“A few phone calls, a few emails and a little extra time, and so, so much has happened for them,” she said. “It’s been nice, and I just want them in a warm house again.”

Greater Cincinnati Water Works expects another month or two of repair work to restore the 60-inch water main, which also created a sinkhole large enough to swallow a car.

And Crabb is working on her own repairs at home. She gets there most days, she said, although it’s a game of catching the right buses and having enough energy to make the work happen.

The hotel that Water Works has provided for her family is 17 miles from their neighborhood, and Crabb cannot drive. Her children now ride two hours to school, and her mother spends 45 minutes getting to work.

“If I take a bus (to the house), I have to walk a good 20-30 minutes, catch one bus, transfer to another and walk more,” she said.

She has no idea how long she’ll have to keep up that pace before making a safe return to her house.

“It’s between the city and getting things done at home,” she said.