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Coldwater Cyn. Flooded, Van Halen's House Damaged*
It always seems that Coldwater Canyon Blvd. is flooded. Early this morning, the Los Angeles Fire Department reported an 8 inch broken main causing "severe" flooding between Ventura Blvd. and Mulholland Dr., shutting down the canyon traffic corridor. Muholland Dr. is also closed down between Coldwater Cyn. and Benedict Cyn. due to mud and debris.
Then at 6:45 a.m., the most unusual and seemingly non sequitar update from the fire department came in:
The flooding did impact the house of rock star Eddie Van Halen. His home sustained some property damage on the exterior. A block wall, front gate, and swimming pool were affected by the mud and debris. Firefighters at the scene under the command of Battalion Chief Pete Benesch, however, did an outstanding job with sand bag operations and this prevented any damage to the house itself.
Someone must have been asking and hey, it's Hollywood! Van Halen's house was the only house to be damaged. His swimming pool is completely full of mud (mud pit!!).
CBS2 News on TV was reporting that at 7:30 a.m., people were being let onto Coldwater Cyn. for local traffic and Harvard-Westlake School.
UPDATE, 8:55 a.m.: KTLA is reporting that the road will be closed "for several more hours."
Photo of previous Coldwater Cyn. flooding by Zach Behrens/LAist
Van Halen struggles through "Jump" last October in spite of a horribly off-pitch synthesizer: