Southside Park in Newton was more like Southside Lake Wednesday morning after heavy overnight rain closed the park.

Meanwhile 300 Newton residents were without water after more than 5 inches of rain transformed normally calm creeks into violent flood waters that swept away two sections of waterline.

The wait for water could stretch into Thursday morning, said Newton Public Works and Utilities Director Martin Wilson.

He said he started working on repairs early after receiving a call at 4 a.m. Wednesday that a 25-foot section of East First Street had been whisked away by floodwaters.  Wilson said he’s never seen anything like it in his nine years on the job.

“That small creek became a raging river last night,” Wilson said of the stream that runs under East First Street.  “It washed everything out. The water washed the entire road away.”

Meanwhile, Clark Creek rose at least 15 feet to knock out waterlines strung across a steel bridge elevated 15 feet off the ground.  Wilson said he suspects when the water rose up to the bridge, that debris swept along the creek hit the pipe and cut out a 20-foot section.

“We’ve never had a flooding to this level that caused this type of problem with our waterlines,” Wilson said.

Newton Public Works and Utilities worked tediously Wednesday trying to repair two broken waterlines, off U.S. 321 Business near Southside Park and another on East First Street, Wilson said.

He said 190 residents and businesses along U.S. 321 Business, Smyre Farm Road, McKay Road, St. James Church Road and East P Street were without water from the broken waterline near the highway.  In addition, another 100 water customers along East First Street, South Gaither Avenue, McDaniels Circle and South Hildebran Avenue were also without running faucets.

He said East First Street, which crosses a small creek, will require nearly $250,000 in repairs.  Wilson said the flooding carried away the road, the culvert under the road, severed the sewer line and knocked out about 25 feet of 6-inch waterline.  He estimates the repairs to waterlines off U.S. 321 Business at $10,000 to $15,000.

Wilson said Wednesday that crews could make repairs to both broken lines within eight to 10 hours optimistically, but it would likely take longer. He said it could take as long as 24 hours, or until about 10 a.m. Thursday, before residents would have water again.

The flooding caused other problems throughout Catawba County.  The large amount of rain caused the South Fork River to overflow onto Rocky Ford Road, which was closed for safety reasons Wednesday.  Floodwaters also washed out a bridge on Little Road near Albert Drive, preventing school buses from driving normal routes, said Carleen Crawford, spokesperson for Catawba County Schools. She said repairs to the bridge will take three weeks to complete.

The Green Room is also scheduled to use the amphitheater at Southside Park for Shakespeare in the Park this weekend.  If the park is still flooded on Thursday, Green Room Executive Director David Brown, said it’s likely evening performances of “Twelfth Night” will be canceled.