( CNN ) -- Heavy crude oil flowing like a river through a central Arkansas neighborhood could keep residents away for several more days as crews work to clean it up . The oil began spilling into the Mayflower , Arkansas , subdivision Friday from a 2- or 3-inch gash in the Pegasus pipeline , which carries Canadian crude from Patoka , Illinois , to Nederland , Texas , according to a state transportation engineer . The cause of the leak was undetermined , he told CNN affiliate KARK in Little Rock . About two dozen homes were evacuated as the crude oil , which originated in Canada and was bound for Gulf Coast refineries , crawled through yards and down streets . `` Hopefully in the near immediate future we can get residents back into certain areas of the neighborhood , '' Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Nicolas Brescia said Sunday as reporters were given a tour of the neighborhood . Exxon Mobil , which owns the 60-year-old pipeline , met with displaced residents over the weekend to explain how they can make claims for losses . `` If you have been harmed by this spill then we 're going to look at how to make that right , '' Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. President Gary Pruessing told them . Resident Darren Hale complained to CNN affiliate KHTV that being forced to leave his home was frustrating . `` I 've heard three contradictory answers as to when I will be able to go back home , '' Hale said . He was first told it would be two days , but later that it would be up to two weeks , he said . Joe Bradley , whose home is about five houses away from the rupture , told KHTV he was worried about how the spill could affect his 8-year-old daughter 's health . `` Is she supposed to ride her bicycle out here playing with kids out here ? '' Bradley asked . An around-the-clock cleanup operation began Saturday , with workers scrubbing streets and driveways in the Northwood subdivision , CNN affiliate KATV reported . `` The next step is going to be power washing , '' Faulkner County Judge Allen Dodson told KATV Sunday . `` More than likely , I think we are doing some testing with some power washing right now with the techniques involved there . '' None of the estimated 12,000 barrels of oil that spilled has made it to nearby Lake Conway , a local drinking water source , Dodson said . `` We 're approximately a mile from Lake Conway or at least from the cove , '' he said . The Pegasus pipeline , which could carry up to 90,000 barrels of crude each day , was built more than 60 years ago , an Exxon Mobil spokesman said . Leaks are not uncommon , but the company 's recent inspections showed no red flags for this section , he told KARK .
Oil spills into a Arkansas , Illinois , subdivision from a gash in the pipeline . Families evacuate about two dozen homes as oil crawls through yards and down streets . Residents complain about the uncertainty of when they can go home . The pipeline carries Canadian crude from Patoka , Arkansas , to Patoka , Patoka .