LOS ANGELES (AP) — An estimated 100,000 gallons of water flowed along residential streets and submerged cars in a parking lot after a nearly century-old 18-inch main burst early Wednesday a few blocks north of Hollywood Boulevard.

“It sounded like a rain shower, and we looked outside and it wasn’t. It was just a lot of water,” resident Brenda Burror, whose family’s cars were submerged, told KCBS-TV. “Right now we’re trying to cancel work and school, see what we can do to fix the cars.”

In the parking lot, which sits below street level, at least four cars were surrounded by about three feet of standing water.

The extent of the damage wasn’t immediately determined.

Miller Lee, whose father owns the apartments, told the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/1LcGZ3W ) that his family stored classic cars, including a 1954 Triumph convertible, antique Italian furniture and pricey Persian rugs in ground-floor garages.

“I’m devastated,” Lee said. “I feel bad for our tenants.”

Crews eventually shut off the water and drained the lot.

The 18-inch cast-iron pipe that broke was installed in 1926 and serves 20 water meters in the area with single-family homes and apartment buildings, said Kim Hughes with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

The cause of the break was under investigation.

Aging infrastructure has resulted in a series of water main breaks in and around Los Angeles in recent years.

A nearly century-old main ruptured last year near the campus of University of California, Los Angeles, flooding the area with 20 million gallons of water. Hundreds of cars and part of the campus were damaged by that break.