diff --git a/pkg/storage/etcd3/watcher.go b/pkg/storage/etcd3/watcher.go
index 544787925b3..a9ed3571f95 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/etcd3/watcher.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/etcd3/watcher.go
@@ -99,7 +99,8 @@ func (w *watcher) createWatchChan(ctx context.Context, key string, rev int64, re
 }
 
 func (wc *watchChan) run() {
-	go wc.startWatching()
+	watchClosedCh := make(chan struct{})
+	go wc.startWatching(watchClosedCh)
 
 	var resultChanWG sync.WaitGroup
 	resultChanWG.Add(1)
@@ -108,7 +109,6 @@ func (wc *watchChan) run() {
 	select {
 	case err := <-wc.errChan:
 		if err == context.Canceled {
-			wc.cancel() // just in case
 			break
 		}
 		errResult := parseError(err)
@@ -119,10 +119,15 @@ func (wc *watchChan) run() {
 			case <-wc.ctx.Done(): // user has given up all results
 			}
 		}
-		wc.cancel()
-	case <-wc.ctx.Done():
+	case <-watchClosedCh:
+	case <-wc.ctx.Done(): // user cancel
 	}
-	// we need to wait until resultChan wouldn't be sent to anymore
+
+	// We use wc.ctx to reap all goroutines. Under whatever condition, we should stop them all.
+	// It's fine to double cancel.
+	wc.cancel()
+
+	// we need to wait until resultChan wouldn't be used anymore
 	resultChanWG.Wait()
 	close(wc.resultChan)
 }
@@ -157,7 +162,7 @@ func (wc *watchChan) sync() error {
 // startWatching does:
 // - get current objects if initialRev=0; set initialRev to current rev
 // - watch on given key and send events to process.
-func (wc *watchChan) startWatching() {
+func (wc *watchChan) startWatching(watchClosedCh chan struct{}) {
 	if wc.initialRev == 0 {
 		if err := wc.sync(); err != nil {
 			glog.Errorf("failed to sync with latest state: %v", err)
@@ -182,6 +187,11 @@ func (wc *watchChan) startWatching() {
 			wc.sendEvent(parseEvent(e))
 		}
 	}
+	// When we come to this point, it's only possible that client side ends the watch.
+	// e.g. cancel the context, close the client.
+	// If this watch chan is broken and context isn't cancelled, other goroutines will still hang.
+	// We should notify the main thread that this goroutine has exited.
+	close(watchClosedCh)
 }
 
 // processEvent processes events from etcd watcher and sends results to resultChan.