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UCLA Flood: DWP starts paying damage claims from water main break
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employees pump water out of the hole created on Sunset Boulevard after a water main ruptured and flooded parts of the UCLA campus.
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Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC
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Water begins to recede in the lower levels of a parking garage that was flooded after a water main ruptured on Sunset Boulevard near the UCLA campus.
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Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC
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Debris covers a car damaged in a flooded parking garage after a water main broke and spilled 20 million gallons of water on the UCLA campus.
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Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC
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Los Angeles County firefighters work to remove water from the Pauley Pavilion after a broken water main flooded the UCLA campus.
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Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC
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Water covers the court inside the Pauley Pavilion after a broken water main flooded the UCLA campus.
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Benjamin Brayfield/KPCC
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UCLA Flood: DWP starts paying damage claims from water main break
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has received 190 claims for damages related to a water main break that sent 20 million gallons of water gushing onto the UCLA campus and nearby streets.
Hundreds of cars were trapped in underground parking garages July 29, when water shot up from beneath Sunset Boulevard. Of the 190 claims filed, the DWP has paid 82 - all of them related to damaged or destroyed cars, according to spokesman Albert Rodriguez. Payments ranged from a couple hundred dollars to $12,000. Twenty-two cars were considered total losses.
DWP officials said they continue to be in contact with UCLA administration regarding water-related damage on the campus. University officials say Pauley Pavilion's basketball court was destroyed and will have to be replaced.
DWP General Manager, Marcie Edwards has said the utility's insurance should be enough to cover the damages, though there is a $3 million deductible.
Records obtained by KPCC show the DWP has paid $9.4 million in water main-related claims over the past five years. That figure did not include any of the costs associated with the UCLA area flood.
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