PORT ANGELES — A portion of East Front Street battered by water exploding from a water main rupturing underneath it is expected to be reopened to traffic between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. today.

The short portion of westbound U.S. Highway 101, just east of Race Street in Port Angeles, was closed Monday afternoon after water from a break in a 12-inch water main buckled the surface.

Crews shut off the water about 4:15 p.m., and Port Angeles maintenance crews rerouted traffic to Georgiana Street or to Fifth Street during the closure.

City Public Works Director Glenn Cutler said he didn’t know why the water main broke.

“The pipe failed,” he said Tuesday.

“We don’t know what caused it.”

He didn’t know how much water had been lost when the water burst to the surface sending mud sloshing through Front Street and onto sidewalks.

“I don’t know if we’ll do that calculation,” he said.

He said that Walgreens and a couple of other customers on Front between Race and Washington streets lost water service, but that it was restored Monday night.

“Not everyone on Front in those blocks lost water, but a few of them did for a little while,” he said.

Water flooded some parking areas, but buildings stayed dry.

The water flowed west to a culvert at Race Street, then drained north to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Left behind was ruptured and curled asphalt over the two lanes of the highway.

The water main broke between the concrete that formed the original Olympic Highway and the large asphalt layers that had been placed on top of it over the decades as Highway 101.