3 water mains broke in the early hours of the morning Tuesday and a fourth broke late in the evening causing flooding, mud flows, street closures and sinkholes. This comes on the heels of 2 breaks on Monday and 4 over the weekend.

11:23 a.m. | KPCC Wire Services

3 water mains broke in the early hours of the morning Tuesday and a fourth broke late in the evening causing flooding, mud flows, street closures and sinkholes. This comes on the heels of 2 breaks on Monday and 4 over the weekend.

At approximately 1:55 AM a water main burst near the 13600 block of Mulholland Dr. south of Sherman Oaks near Beverly Glen. According to Capt. Gail Manning of the Los Angeles Fire Department, the flow of mud and water also caused flooding on Donington Pl. and a private property on N Deep Canyon Dr.

A few minutes later in South Los Angeles, two more mains burst. LAFD Capt. John Sullivan said a rupture at Wall St. and E 83rd St. created a sinkhole. Flooding from the other break at S Van Ness Ave. and Florence Ave. caused street closures.

Around 10:15 PM, another main broke near Mulholland on the small street of Packwood Trail. DWP spokeswoman Gale Harris described it as a “slow leak.” As of 2:30 AM Wednesday, crews were still on the scene working on the problem. Customers in the areas of the early morning ruptures all had service restored by 4 PM Tuesday.

On Monday Oct. 19, two mains ruptured within 20 minutes of each other in the Porter Ranch area and nearby Granada Hills.

First a 12-inch main broke on the 2000 block of Rinaldi St. and the ensuing flooding closed the intersection of Porter Ranch and Rinaldi. Northbound lanes of Porter Ranch Dr. were closed as late as 5 PM on Monday, however no customers lost water services. Harris pointed out that not all water mains feed to customers’ pipes directly, such as the break of a 62-inch line on Sept. 5 that connected 2 reservoirs.

Monday’s other break in the Knollwood area of Granada Hills affected customers on Armstead and Barneston Streets. About 20 customers were left without water with no estimate as to when repairs would be completed.

Last weekend saw a break at the 1900 block of W Court St. on Saturday and 3 breaks on Friday. The Friday breaks included another break on Van Ness, a break at the intersection of Willow Glen Rd. and Thames Pl., and a rupture in Malibu that cut off service to the courthouse. The Superior Court public information office said the Malibu Courthouse closed on Friday but reopened Monday.

In an interview with KPCC’s Patt Morrison, interim DWP Chief S. David Freeman stated that the startling number of water main breaks this month were actually less than those reported in Oct. 2008.

Thanks for this Pat. I have clients looking in the Hills all the time.

View Los Angeles Water Main Breaks in a larger map

Related article

• Another Water Main Break in the Hills (laist.com)

Filed under: Current Events, Disaster Preparedness, LA Area, VRN