Workers trying to fix the broken water main running under Cowart Street in Chattanooga got a good look at the problem: a gash running 4 feet long and about 1 1/2 feet wide in a 10-foot section of pipe.

The 24-inch main ruptured Wednesday while an AT&T subcontractor was drilling underground to lay fiber optic cable.

The leak flooded the Southside until the water could be routed around the broken pipe.

After the broken section was loaded into a truck and taken to Tennessee American Water, which owns the pipe, crews shin-deep in mud used sledgehammers and crowbars to pry other parts of the pipe loose.

"After they clean it all out we'll start the next step of joining the main back together," said Tennessee American spokeswoman Kim Dalton.

For complete coverage, see Monday's Times Free Press.