Jeanette, who lives in the house behind the burst main, said she heard a humming noise inside her house before going outside to see water spewing from a pipe.

"It just shot into the air," she said.

She said the height of the geyser increased while a group of residents watched on, soon reaching higher than the house opposite, which has been doused in water.

Firefighters arrived about 9.50am to deal with the situation, about an hour after residents first noticed the burst main.

A spokesman for Icon Water said the water was turned off at 10.15am and the repair was expected to take four hours.

The spokesman said soil movement or changes in pressure could cause water mains to break, but a range of different factors, including old pipes, could be the cause.

The amount of water lost in a break depends on where the pipe is located in the water network, he said.