Muddy Flood Damages Canyon Country Homes After Cold Snaps Pipe

Under stress from freezing temperatures, a pipeline leading from a hilltop water tank in Canyon Country broke early Saturday morning, sending a flood of water and mud into several homes, authorities said.

Firefighters called to the 15800 block of Kimbrough Street at 4:30 a.m. found thousands of gallons of water cascading down a slope from a burst coupling in the 16-inch-diameter pipe, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Ken Bayer.

Mixed with mud, the water poured into the basement of one home and pooled in the yards and garages of three others, Bayer said. “There was a six-foot-deep flood in one backyard,” Bayer said.

Bobbie Fraley, a resident of the block, said she was roused by a neighbor who heard “a gushing noise out front.” Fraley opened her back door and was greeted by a tide of mud. “At first, we thought the big water tank broke,” she said.

Several Million Gallons

The tank contains several million gallons of water, Bayer said.

Fraley bemoaned the state of her yard, which she has tended avidly for 24 years, but which now lay buried under several feet of mud. “My daughter always told me, ‘Mother, you could be in House & Garden.’ The yard was gorgeous. It’s not gorgeous anymore,” she said.

The worst-hit house suffered about $10,000 in water damage, said Sgt. Michael Watner of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

Fire Department crews spent several hours building sandbag barriers to direct the flow of water away from the homes, Bayer said. After a three-hour search for a buried valve, personnel from the Santa Clarita Water Co. closed the line and staunched the flow of water, Bayer said.

No one was injured, although several people slipped on ice that formed in the freezing weather, Bayer said.