GRIFFIN, Ga. — A water tank break in Griffin has led to hundreds of thousands of gallons of water pouring into parking lots and a nearby creek and several businesses have been evacuated.

City officials say the tank cracked on Wednesday afternoon.

The city is now waiting for engineers to come out overnight to see if there was any structural damage and be sure the tower will not collapse.

“About 3:30 we heard a loud boom, like an explosion type boom and we were all like what in the heck,” said local business owner Jessica Hammond.

Hammond works in an office building feet away from the Griffin Water Tower near Griffin Memorial Stadium. They came outside to find water pouring from the tower.

“As we were standing out there waiting for the fire trucks, you could hear the bolts like popping out of the tower,” said Hammond.

A video shows the water pouring out of the tank.

The water is draining at a rate of about four feet per hour, meaning it will continue draining for several hours. It is estimated to be draining for at least the next seven hours.

Crews will eventually work to figure out what happened, but for now, Griffin City Manager Jessica O’Connor said they are not sure.

“We don’t know what happened, we can’t tell at this point,” said O’Connor.

The tank can hold a million gallons of water and it was nearly full. They’re estimating 800,000 gallons poured out into nearby parking lots and a creek.

They’re now concerned about the possibility of the water tower collapsing.

“We don’t know, we don’t think so at this point, we feel like if it were going to it would have already occurred, but they will be out in the morning first thing to check it,” said O’Connor.

They’re also concerned about possible damage to a nearby city owned cemetery.

“Water is safe to drink, safe to use, any bathing any of that, and we haven’t had to turn anybody off either,” said O’Connor.

Local streets around the water tank are shut down.

City officials want to reassure neighbors that no one will see an increase in their water bill.

There is no word on what led to the water tank cracking.

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