A decoration materials market on Nan'an Road, Guangzhou, was submerged after a water pipe burst up Saturday.

The pipe burst at 11:15 a.m., when the water gushed out of the bushes along the road.

"The water went as high as five to six meters," said a local resident. In the span of a few minutes, a half-square-kilometer area was flooded. The 600 shops in the market were inundated with water as deep as half a meter.

The water pipe was turned off at about 11:55 a.m. As the earth beneath the road had been washed away, the road caved in three times before the salvage operations began.

The repair began with water being pumped out of the caved-in area. An official with the Guangzhou Water Corp. said the company would get the pipe repaired as soon as possible, but could not say when the pipe would resume operation.

A man surnamed Ju, who owned a shop nearby, asked his staff to turn off the electricity immediately after the water came into the shop. Then they moved things upstairs while blocking the gate with sand bags. Ju estimated he had removed tons of water from the flooding area.

A deputy manager of the Guangzhou Water Corp. surnamed Wu said there were three possible reasons why the pipe had burst: busy traffic on the road, the fickle weather and the gradual wearing-out of the pipe. The water company began supplying water to the neighborhood with water trucks after the accident. The flooded shops would be compensated by the city government, said the city's gardening authority.

Editor: Yan