Photos: 10,000 Precious Gallons Of Water Flood West Hollywood

A water main break in West Hollywood early Sunday morning unleashed 10,000 gallons of water, creating a sinkhole and flooding nearby homes and garages.

A 12-inch LADWP pipe burst in the 1200 block of Formosa near Santa Monica Boulevard around 4 a.m. Sunday and continued gushing until the water was shut off at 5:40 a.m., according to KTLA. Residents in the area had water service restored at 6:45 p.m. that evening but clean-up efforts were continuing through Monday morning.

There is no estimate of how much damage there was, but the main break did flood underground parking garages and the small river of water lapped lawns and even seeped into some homes. Six cars in garages were damaged. Los Angeles County firefighters worked to pump water from the garages but some of them look like they were totaled. Crews were working this morning to fill the sinkhole created by the main break.

Angry residents said that this is the third time in the past four years that this same section of pipe broke. Resident Roxanne McBride told KTLA, "Everybody wants to save water, right? Well then fix the frickin' problems."

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The LADWP told ABC 7 that the pipe was installed in 1936, and the likely cause of the break was simply age. Kirk Broyard with LADWP told ABC, "It was just one of many places where we need to have a water main replaced."

The Los Angeles Times notes that there have been 5,200 leaks in the LADWP pipes since 2010, and two-thirds of those pipes were installed before 1950. The worst was a burst pipe that flooded UCLA last July.

A Times analysis of city data last year showed there had been 5,200 leaks in L.A. DWP pipes since 2010, and that two-thirds of those leaking pipes were installed before 1950.

Here are some photos from the watery scene: