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A water main burst in Hollywood early Wednesday morning and caused some gnarly damage as cars were submerged underwater and streets and homes were flooded.
At least 100,000 gallons of water flowed like a river through the 6400 block of Dix Street near Cahuenga Boulevard, according to NBC Los Angeles. The water main break was reported around 2 a.m. and continued to flow for hours. Basements of apartment complexes were flooded, and sidewalks even began to crack as a result of the burst.
Brenda Burror's family were among those whose cars were submerged. “It sounded like a rain shower, and we looked outside and it wasn’t," she told CBS Los Angeles. "It was just a lot of water. Right now we’re trying to cancel work and school, see what we can do to fix the cars.”
It's not clear at this point what caused the 18-inch pipe that was originally built in 1926 to burst. LADWP isn't shutting off all the pipe valves at once in fear that it would cause too much pressure and result in other pipes bursting, so they're currently turning off the valves in phases.
"We have the majority of the water shut off," LADWP's Jeff Bray told KPCC. "But we still have a little bit of water that we’re having trouble with some of the valves, and we’re working those valves to get the water shut off completely."
By this morning, the rush of water through the streets had significantly decreased. Bray told KPCC that they expect to fix the break by sometime today.
Here are some photos and videos of the damage caused by the flooding:
Water main bursts in Hollywood Hills, causing major flooding http://t.co/Dx1QvE4geC pic.twitter.com/IR4pTY0bJ3
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 18, 2015
Several cars & basements submerged in 4-5ft of water after early #watermainbreak in #Hollywood http://t.co/tAMglzfSXt pic.twitter.com/xHFvoonvP8
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 18, 2015
Sidewalks starting to crumble in Hollywood Hills during water main break. Hope drivers move their cars @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/wcV3SEUi6C
— Adrian Arambulo (@AdrianNBCLA) February 18, 2015
Update: Burst water main spews at least 100,000 gallons of water into residential area http://t.co/yCl63fSF1l pic.twitter.com/7e64PKJeqL
— KTLA (@KTLA) February 18, 2015
.@ladwp working on shutting down Hollywood Hills water main break. Around 100 thousand gallons lost so far @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/4YSwGpPvnx
— Adrian Arambulo (@AdrianNBCLA) February 18, 2015
Water main break in the Hollywood Hills submerge cars and impact 20 homes. @GDLA pic.twitter.com/WYsOnY2Xhp
— Sandra Endo (@sandraendotv) February 18, 2015
VIDEO: 18 inch water pipe built in 1929 bursts in Hollywood @LADWP working to stop leak! #ABC7Eyewitness pic.twitter.com/eaSN3VEPu2
— Marc Cota-Robles (@abc7marccr) February 18, 2015
