A TORONTO resident has described coming home to discover "a river" flowing through his property after a water main burst.
At least three homes in the Lake Macquarie suburb are believed to have suffered flood damage after a water main burst on Thursday morning in Cary Street.
The burst water main was reported to Hunter Water at 12pm. The mains were shut down at 12.40pm.
Cary Street resident Brody Lych spoke to the Newcastle Herald while water was still flowing into his property.
"I got a call from my fiance to say a pipe has burst out the front," Mr Lych said. "I thought maybe it's a little pipe, nothing major.
"I drove home, as I work just up the road, and saw a river basically coming into my property. I was a little stressed when I drove in. The main thing was making sure everyone was safe.
"We're lucky we're built on some stilts so it's going under our house. It's ripped apart our backyard.
"We're doing some work down the back at the moment, building a granny flat, it's been kind of washed that away."
A Hunter Water media spokesperson said it was too early to assess the extent of the damage.
"Crews are on site now and repairs are about to begin on the actual water main, from there, they'll assess any impacts on properties," they said.