Pair of ruptured water pipes cause flooding in Venice neighborhoods
Two separate water pipe ruptures caused flooding in Venice neighborhoods on Saturday, just days after a massive water main burst in West Hollywood, gushing millions of gallons onto city streets.
The first pipe break was reported at around 8 a.m. in the Venice Canals area, according to a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. They said that since the pipe burst happened on private property, they did not handle the incident and were unable to provide further details.
Hours later, at around 12:30 p.m., Los Angeles Fire Department crews were dispatched to the 200 block of Grand Boulevard, just blocks from the first incident, in response to reports of additional flooding.
LADWP officials said that a 6-inch cast-iron main break and that services would be affected for 67 customers. Repair crews were working to replace the broken line on Sunday evening, but there was no timetable as to when the repairs would be completed.
Video from Venice showed flooded alleyways and water rushing into some homes. Ron Benveniste was one of the dozens of impacted residents.
"I was surprised at the amount of water coming in, and we couldn't do anything until the DWP shut off the water," Benveniste said. "It took them two and a half hours to get it to do that."
He said that a group of neighbors made a trip to a local hardware store to purchase pumps so they could start removing the water from their homes.
"I asked LADWP to help pump it out, and they are not so helpful in doing that, for whatever reason," Benveniste said. "It's as much damage as you can manage. Besides the water, there's also that fine silt, that mud that sticks to everything."
He said in all, he believes the damage in his home could cost up to $500,000.
The two ruptured mains were part of a string of incidents to happen across the city in recent days, though officials have not said if they're all connected. On Thursday, a 110-year-old section of a 36-inch trunk line ruptured and approximately 17 million gallons of water gushed into city streets.
Repair work was still underway on Saturday afternoon, where they said "really great progress" had been made during a news conference earlier in the day. They were still unable to guarantee when the area would be reopened.
LADWP repair crews were also working to fix a 6-inch cast-iron main that burst in the 6000 block of Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood on Saturday. They said that 70 customers were impacted and were unable to provide a time as to when restoration would be completed.
With all of the recent water main breaks in Los Angeles neighborhoods, Benveniste said that city officials need to start getting ahead of the problem rather than waiting for it to happen before taking action.
"I feel like we pay so much in tax dollars here in Los Angeles that you would think they would be able to fix all these things," he said. "They're not fixing it til it breaks. That seems to be the problem. They're not proactive, they're reactive."
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park shared a statement on the Venice water main breaks, saying that her office was in direct communication with LADWP to make sure the issue would be quickly resolved and to support impacted residents.
"The incident underscores the importance of investing in the aging infrastructure our communities rely on every day, and I will continue advocating for those critical improvements," Park's statement said.
