Sinkhole on Sunset Boulevard: broken water pipe floods LA-area hotspot

Businesses and traffic in West Hollywood doused after century-old pipe bursts belowground

A century-old water pipe buried below a bustling boulevard in a Los Angeles county city burst early Thursday, sending a shock of water spewing into the streets and snarling traffic as several major roads shut down.

The 36in riveted steel pipe’s rupture left a protruding sinkhole and cracked pavement in West Hollywood. Images of the aftermath showed local metro buses partially submerged in murky brown water.

No injuries had been reported, according to John Heilman, the city’s mayor. “All of our residents to our knowledge are safe,” he said during a Thursday press conference, adding that there was no immediate need for evacuations.

“We know these road closures and traffic impacts are disruptive, and we appreciate everyone’s patience as crews work to stabilize the area, assess the damage, and begin repairs,” Heilman also said in a statement.

Neighborhood residents have clean drinking water, said David Hanson, the interim general manager for the Los Angeles department of water and power (LADWP).

Officials do not yet know what caused the pipe to rupture.

Anselmo Collins, chief operating officer for LADWP, said at the press conference that the agency annually installs and replaces about 45 miles (72km) of pipes. “Unfortunately, sometimes there may be parts of the pipeline where you end up with a weak spot and it reveals itself when you have these types of leaks,” he said.

Water pressure typically surges at night when fewer people are using it, he continued. “Everybody’s asleep. So consequently normally that’s when you see a water main break take place,” he said.

Collins did not provide a timeline for repairs, saying that officials are working to shut smaller valves and assess the situation.

The flooding affected the Sunset Strip, a buzzy cluster of restaurants, bars and retail.

Dialog Cafe, a popular brunch spot, was temporarily closed after sustaining “significant damage” due to the water break, the restaurant wrote in a Thursday social media post, saying: “We don’t yet know exactly when we’ll be able to reopen.”

At the press conference, Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, cited the pipe’s break as evidence of why the city needs a “comprehensive infrastructure plan”. (The pipe’s origins predate the 1984 incorporation of West Hollywood as an independent city.)

“This is one of the challenges when our infrastructure is so old,” she said.

“I spent the last couple of years developing a comprehensive infrastructure plan of which we rolled out about two months ago,” she said, noting that the measure will be put before voters on the November ballot. “It is very difficult to repair the infrastructure that impacts the entire city and clearly two cities – West Hollywood and Los Angeles – without a citywide plan.”