Flood victim John Cready said, "I came out in my bare feet. It looked like Old Faithful. It was gushing out of the ground."

A 12-inch water main burst at the corner of Mt. Vernon and West Main Street in Uniontown, buckling roads and sidewalks and dumping water into nearby businesses.

Raymond Frazee of Jendral's Pharmacy said, "(It) spoiled my New Year's Day. I just cleaned in here and waxed the floor and I had it looking real nice. (It) didn't look so nice this morning."

The water also poured into Cready's home, soaking the carpet and damaging stored items in the basement.

"I panicked. The patio in the house was soaked and wet; the basement was soaked and wet. The water came in where water never came in," Cready said.

Blocks away from the water main break, Uniontown School District cancelled classes. At the high school there was low water pressure. While at other school buildings there was no water at all.

Meantime, workers from Pennsylvania American Water Company worked to repair the water main -- called a significant transmission line -- and water company officials said disaster restoration crews are assessing the damage and helping with the cleanup.

Water company spokesman Phil Cynar said it's not known what caused the break, but one probable cause is the change in temperatures that made the ground shift.