Yes... there's was a lot of luck and then the right reaction. I always turn off the main water inlet to the house whenever we're going away overnight or longer. We've had four water catastrophes which were all random and could all have done untold damage had they occurred when were weren't home.
1. The bottom of a humidifier opened one clip and the sump flopped sideways opening the inlet valve without anything shutting it off. The house was already sold and it soaked through the utility room wall into the family room and soaked the carpet. It was a townhouse built on a slab so there was no basement to get wet.
2. A washer hose let loose early on a Sunday morning. I came downstairs to the sound of water spraying. It put about an inch of water on the Armstrong Sheet Goods vinyl flooring and some got to the basement, but I was there and could shut off the water before it got to the rest of the house.
3. The water inlet line to a water softener pulled out of its compression fitting and was spraying the entire basement...all my tools, but I didn't have a railroad yet so it didn't do anything REALLY serious.
4. The nylon nut on the water inlet connection under the toilet tank in a second floor bathroom cracked and was involved in an uncontrolled release of water that got through the floor and started cascading out of the light fixture in our master bath that lies below. Again, we were home and I was able to shut off the main, get a plumber and get it fixed.
Any one of these events if they were to continue for days without anyone intercepting them, would have done ridiculous damage. There are many cases when a second floor leak takes place and runs for days and takes apart the first floor. The house has to be gutted to repair the damage. It also precludes a pipe freezing in the house from wrecking the place when it thaws out when no one's home.
So... It takes a couple of seconds to turn off the water.
