Photo by Tim Schmitz

A stretch of Cleveland Park got an unexpected bath earlier today when a contractor working on the 3400 block Connecticut Avenue NW struck a service pipe, unleashing a massive jet of water that drenched the area outside the Uptown Theater.

DCist reader Tim Schmitz was able to snap a photo of the burst, which erupted about 1:30 p.m.

Alan Heymann, a spokesman for D.C. Water, said that the contractor was not one hired by the utility. A D.C. Water team was dispatched to fix the pipe, which Heymann said runs into the building at 3420 Connecticut Avenue. (The Uptown is at 3426 Connecticut.) Several apartments and businesses on the 3400 block lost their water service, D.C. Water said.