A water main break in the Los Feliz neighborhood sent a rushing torrent of water down the street on Wednesday morning, opening up a sinkhole that swallowed a parked utility van and prompted road closures.
According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the break occurred at 11:10 a.m. on the 1900 block of Normandie Avenue. Agency spokesperson Pamela Workman stated that the ruptured pipe measured approximately eight inches in diameter and left about 30 local customers affected by the disruption.
Capt. Anthony Tubbs of the Los Angeles Fire Department said firefighters responded to initial reports of flooding and discovered water bubbling up through the pavement. Emergency personnel quickly cordoned off the area and confirmed that no injuries occurred as a result of the incident.
Video footage from the scene showed the front end of a parked Spectrum van sliding into the newly formed sinkhole as water continued to gush from the ground. A spokesperson for Spectrum, Dennis Johnson, confirmed that the company’s employee was working in the area when the ground gave way and escaped injury. Johnson added that the company plans to retrieve the vehicle once local officials declare the site safe.
The rupture forced city officials to shut down a block of Normandie Avenue, closing the thoroughfare from Franklin Avenue to De Mille Drive. Department of Water and Power work crews remained on site Wednesday afternoon to stop the flow, clear the area, and assess the damage. Authorities have not yet stated when regular water service will be restored or when the affected stretch of roadway will reopen to traffic.
Wednesday’s incident is the latest in a series of pipeline failures across Los Angeles over recent months, highlighting ongoing challenges with aging municipal infrastructure. On July 16, a major transmission line break sent millions of gallons of water onto the Sunset Strip, creating a massive sinkhole that forced the closure of Sunset Boulevard and nearby side streets for eight days while crews repaired a 110-year-old pipe. That summer flooding damaged an estimated 200 vehicles, many of which were parked in subterranean garages. Later, on Oct. 8, another broken water main opened a gaping hole at the intersection of Kenya Street and Vanalden Avenue in Porter Ranch, sending a wall of water and rocks sweeping across the pavement before being contained.
Department officials noted that the agency is actively working to modernize the city’s utility network. The water infrastructure plan involves replacing roughly 240,000 feet of mainline pipe and over 5,200 feet of larger-diameter trunk lines annually. Workman stated that the agency invests nearly $1 billion each year into pipeline replacement as part of a broader five-year, $8 billion water infrastructure initiative.
