Series of Water Main Breaks Deluge Neighborhoods

Updated at 3:50 p.m.: Water main breaks today left customers in the Hollywood and Lake View Terrace areas without service for much of the morning and partially flooded streets, while a hydrant sheared by a truck flooded a building in Glassell Park, where a disabled man was rescued by firefighters.

About 3:15 a.m. in Hollywood, a break in an 8-inch main was reported at Melrose Avenue and Gower Street, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

About the same time, a break was reported near Paxton Street and Foothill Boulevard in the Lake View Terrace area, according to the LADWP.

And about 5 a.m. in an area east of Hollywood, a break in a 12-inch main was reported at Melrose and Vermont avenues, where water flooded streets and at least one parking garage of a nearby apartment building.

According to the Los Angeles Fire Department, about a half-dozen vehicles were trapped by water at 625 New Hampshire Ave., and firefighters helped remove water from the area.

The ruptured Hollywood lines were repaired and service restored shortly before 1 p.m., according to the DWP.

In an unrelated incident about 4:20 a.m. in the Glassell Park area, a hydrant was sheared by a truck in the 3100 block of San Fernando Road, sending a geyser of water onto the roof of a nearby single-story building, said Erik Scott of the LAFD.

While the firefighters were working to shut off the water, a woman told them she heard a man screaming for help from inside the building, Scott said.

Firefighters used a chain saw to force open a wooden door, and when they did so, water that had flooded the building when the roof partially collapsed came gushing out, Scott said.

The firefighters then went into the building, and carried the man -- an amputee of about 50 -- to safety, Scott said. They also rescued his cat and retrieved his prosthetic leg for him, Scott said.

Firefighters comforted the man, who was not injured, and they gave him a shirt to wear, Scott said.

City News Service