Water main break floods Westlake streets and homeless encampment
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
A water main break flooded streets in Westlake on Thursday, including a homeless encampment, which was surrounded by water in the early-morning hours.
The break was reported at about 3:30 a.m. along Beverly Boulevard, near North Occidental Boulevard, said Lesly Figueroa, spokesperson with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Water rushed through the area while several unhoused people slept in their tents. Video from KTLA-TV showed water surrounding cots and furniture on the street, as some of the people tried to lift mattresses and other belongings away from the water.
When 17 million gallons of water poured out of a broken water main under Sunset Boulevard into downhill neighborhoods in West Hollywood, family businesses and residents’ cars and personal items were in the flood zone.
Water appeared to rise over the sidewalks before crews managed to stop the deluge.
It’s still unclear what caused the break, Figueroa said.
Water service for some residents in the area was disrupted for hours.
Crews were dispatched early Thursday and closed one lane of eastbound traffic in the area for the repairs, Figueroa said.
LADWP officials sent a message to residents in the area asking them to drive carefully through the area and take alternate streets if possible.
Water service was restored by 4 p.m., Figueroa said.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
The latest effort is coming from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. They just announced a $3 million program in conjunction with some nonprofits groups to test and clean the soil at homes still standing in the areas impacted by the Eaton Fire.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
Hosts Fidel Martínez and Suzy Exposito sit down with Dr. Vanessa J. Díaz, professor of Chicano and Latino Studies at Loyola Marymount University and co-author of P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance.
