Los Angeles-area water main break floods West Hollywood streets, causes sinkhole

A major water main break in Los Angeles caused severe flooding in West Hollywood and a sinkhole on Thursday morning. 

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said the water main break began near Palm Avenue and Harratt Street around 2:30 a.m. Crews quickly responded and began assessing the incident, working to find the cause of the break. 

The rupture included a 36-inch LADWP steel main under Sunset Boulevard in a highly trafficked area. During an update at 7:45 a.m. Chief Operating Officer Anselmo Collins said the trunk line had been shut down, as well as two large valves on the east and west sides. He assured the public that clean and safe water was still being distributed to residents and that there were no service interruptions. 

Collins explained that due to the highly pressurized water system, crews had to work slowly and carefully to avoid causing further damage. 

"Usually what happens in the middle of the night, the pressures in the system are the highest and that's because there's no demand," Collins said. "Everybody's asleep. So consequently, normally, that's when you'll see a water main break take place."  

LADWP confirmed the water main break caused a sinkhole to open up. CBS LA crews saw that sinkhole on Holloway Drive and Palm Avenue outside of Dialog Cafe.

CBS LA reporter Rick Montanez also saw concrete buckled and about two dozen cars flooded in one West Hollywood parking garage. Several cars in other garages were also seen submerged in several inches of water.  

LADWP Claims staff will be stationed in front of 1010 Palm Avenue around midday to help respond to questions about property damage and claims. 

Jordan Zarzaur, a West Hollywood resident, said he woke up around 4:30 a.m. when the fire alarm in his apartment building started going off. He went outside thinking there was a fire in his building but instead saw the street flooded. 

"We came down the stairs, of course thinking it was a fire, so we ran down and then we saw the water; it was in the middle of the road… it was gushing all the way down," Zarzaur said. 

Jonathan Reyes, another resident, said the street looked like a river. 

"There was geysers and geysers and geysers," Reyes said. "The whole street was a river. There was just water everywhere."   

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman warned the community about the traffic delays and road closures that were impacting the area. They urged people to use alternate routes. 

Aerial footage of a Metro yard showed buses surrounded by water and mud. Crews are using pumps to drain the water. 

LADWP Interim General Manager David Hanson said crews have set up an emergency command center and are working in a collaborative effort with other local agencies. Personnel will remain on the scene to help with damage assessments and claims. 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has issued several road closures. Even though the water has been shut off, mud and other debris remain in the roadway.

• Eastbound Sunset Boulevard is closed between Larrabee Street and Sherbourne Drive.
• Eastbound Holloway Drive is closed between Sunset Boulevard and Westmount Drive.
• Eastbound Santa Monica Boulevard is closed between San Vicente Boulevard and Hancock Drive.
• Larrabee Street, Palm Avenue, and Hancock Avenue are all closed northbound and southbound between Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard.

Metro buses operating in the area are also being diverted. Metro posted on X that the northbound and westbound buses of Lines 16 and 105 will layover on San Vicente in front of the Pacific Design Center. Eastbound and southbound buses will detour at Robertson between Santa Monica and Melrose. 

LADWP officials said there is no timeline for when repairs will be made. 

Community impacts

Water slammed into Dialog Café, and its owner, Tadeh Ghazalian, said, "It looks like a beach inside the restaurant," after water flooded under the closed door.

The building owner who houses Dialog Café and a dozen other businesses says the local government is often reactive rather than proactive.

"It's absolutely inexcusable; it's the same nonsense over and over. We have failures in leadership from the top on down," Dimitry Kermani said.

Late Thursday afternoon, pumps were still extracting water from a lower-level Palm Avenue apartment parking garage, while firefighters shoveled mud off the driveway.

Earlier in the morning, all the vehicles in the garage were submerged in water. "All the cars are stuck. My car is my baby, 10 years old, and I only got 22,000 miles on it," West Hollywood resident Kevin Brooks lamented.

One Palm Avenue resident half-joked, "Let me get my canoe out so I can get to work."

"I just seen all the water rushing down the street and then just the (lifted) cement slabs underneath," Fairfax District resident James Below said.

Local resident Nathan said the rushing water was something out of Disneyland. "It's crazy to see, it's like a river rapids ride," he said.

For West Hollywood resident Nikky Abie, the rushing water propelled her parked car, causing it to crash into another vehicle. 

"I was looking for my car because it was parked all the way up the street, over there by the tree and I was like 'my car is gone,' and I started walking and saw my car all totaled here, and I was like, 'oh no,'"Abie said.