Hollywood Water Main Break

The Hollywood Hills were the site of the most recent water main rupture this week, after 100,000 gallons of water flooded the streets. The neighborhood between Franklin Avenue and Ivar Street faced significant damage on sidewalks, streets, and homes. The Department of Water and Power (DWP) was notified about the leak by 2 a.m., a representative from the DWP said, and turned the water off in the area by 5 a.m. 

“The city is made up of a grid of pipework it’s made of primary large lines that go throughout the city, smaller lines that feed into the neighborhoods like the one right behind us. It’s all intertwined between one particular grid,” said Joe Castruita, Director of Water Distribution for the DWP. 

Neighbors in an apartment complex on Franklin Avenue said they were unsure what was happening, until they looked outside their windows and found more than three feet of water in their backyard. 

“It’s no use to anybody just being negative about something. If you get through with a positive attitude, that’s the only way to get through it,” said Austin Wood, a tenant of the apartment complex. 

The ruptured water main was almost 90 years old. Castruita said it would take nearly fifteen hours for the twenty five workers to bring water back to the area. One hundred residents and business owners were without water into the afternoon. 

Victor Simpson, the property manager of the apartment that was most badly damaged, said, “Everytime it happens it’s going to be a loss of someone losing their property or something like that. I don’t know what to say about that. How can they do this?” 

The DWP reports that one-fifth of the Los Angeles’ water main system was installed before the 1930’s. Now, the city is working to replace and upgrade water mains like the one that ruptured in the Hollywood Hills to prevent sudden flooding incidents like this one.