Residents of the Venice Canals neighborhood awoke Saturday morning to flooded streets after a pipe rupture sent a towering stream of water into the air. The incident was reported around 8 a.m., with water erupting above nearby homes.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) crews responded to the scene to address the leak. One resident, Raleigh Tomlinson, described hearing spraying water before looking outside to see the geyser. "I saw water spewing into the sky above my apartment building," Tomlinson told The California Post. She noted that LADWP workers were already in the street, knee-deep in water, attempting repairs.
LADWP later clarified that the event was caused by a leak on private property, not a rupture in the city’s main water system. However, the gushing water flooded the street for approximately one block and temporarily interrupted water service to adjacent buildings. Tomlinson reported that her landlord shut off water to her building while repairs were underway.
While the Venice Canals area sometimes experiences street flooding during heavy winter storms, Tomlinson stated that Saturday's event was unusual for her six years of residency. "It’s obviously a hot, sunny day, so seeing the whole street full of water was very unusual," she said.
This incident follows a significant water main break in West Hollywood just days prior, where a 102-year-old cast-iron water main beneath Sunset Boulevard burst, releasing millions of gallons of water. That event led to trapped vehicles and necessitated extensive road closures for repairs.
The back-to-back occurrences have refocused attention on the aging water infrastructure in Los Angeles. LADWP manages approximately 7,400 miles of water mains, many of which are decades old. The utility addresses an average of three to four water main breaks daily. Despite replacing about 45 miles of aging pipelines annually, the substantial age of much of the system, with some parts dating back nearly a century, means that a complete replacement will take decades.