A 54-inch water main burst early Monday morning, destroying a church, stores and cars as 50 million gallons of water gushed through Capitol Heights. “We’re just grateful we weren’t there,” said pastor Stephanie Stratford of the 60-member Ekklesia Family Life and Worship Center. “It would’ve been devastating and probably a loss of life and definitely a lot of human injury.”

The 4 a.m. ruptures of the 40-year-old concrete cylinder pipe flipped several parked cars and closed down the Inner Loop of the Capital Beltway during the morning rush hour. The Beltway didn’t fully reopen until midafternoon.