Heater hose near firewall blew today!!!

[sptt]

As I was driving up the 57 in Glendora, Ca., I noticed white steam or smoke coming out of my hood this morning (panic!).
I took the next exit and pulled over, lifted the hood.
All of my coolant (well, it seemed like all of it) had spurted out of a hose that comes from the fuse compartment side and goes into the back bottom side of the engine.
Steamed for quite a while before I could see well enough to what was going on down there.
The hose had split right before the hose clamp going into the engine block.
I used some duct tape and drinking water I had in my trunk to get me to Autozone and spliced in a new elbow, filled with coolant (1.5 containers worth) and was good to go.
Before that I noticed I was losing coolant a little at a time so maybe it was coming out of that area.
You may want to check this on your 300E or carry a small hose repair kit and elbow hose just in case.