Local News in Brief : Residents Lose Water Service as Pipe Breaks

Water from a broken pipe flooded the 17000 block of Bullock Street in Encino on Saturday night, causing damage to asphalt and forcing authorities to turn off water service to residents within a two-block radius.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power received the first of several reports about the flood at 8 p.m., spokesman Ed Freudenburg said. A 6-inch-wide cast iron pipe ruptured, releasing hundreds of gallons of water, he said.

“We don’t know what caused it,” Freudenburg said, adding that there are thousands of miles of pipe in various states of disrepair beneath the city.

One Bullock Street resident, Irving Shapiro, said the department has been fixing broken pipes in the neighborhood on numerous occasions the past five months. “Last night, we thought there was an earthquake or something,” he said. “The street looks like a disaster area or a combat zone.”

Estimates of the total damage were unavailble Sunday, Freudenburg said.

According to Shapiro, the water created five large holes in the street and caused sidewalks and driveways to crack.

The department shut off water to the neighborhood between 12:22 and 5:18 a.m. Sunday.