UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion flooded after water main break

Pauley Pavilion and the Spaulding Field football practice facility at UCLA were flooded Tuesday after a broken water main on Sunset Boulevard sent millions of gallons of water streaming on to the Westside campus.

Even as city officials struggled to stop the flow of water from a broken pipe that handles 75,000 gallons per minute when functioning, crews began work to clean up saturated athletic facilities. A water restoration company was already on scene, working alongside UCLA staff.

Three and half hours after the flooding began, about an inch of water remained on the wood court of Pauley Pavilion.

A spokeswoman for UCLA said, at its peak, the water was as deep as eight inches at a facility that underwent a $136-million renovation, completed in 2012. A new synthetic turf was installed on Spaulding Field the same year.

At Pauley Paviliion, workers used brooms, squeegees, vacuums and floor cleaners to remove the water. As that work was underway, sand bags sat stacked at the the service entrance in an effort to hold back water still cascading down the stairs.

Drake Stadium, the track and field facility, also has been flooded, and water poured into a adjacent underground parking lot.

Water also has been seen inside the J.D. Morgan Center, which houses athletic staff and administration offices, as well as inside the academic center and UCLA’s Athletic Hall of Fame. Water has also been spotted inside the John Wooden Center.

Dramatic images shared on social media showed a substantial amount of standing water on the court of the basketball arena.

The water main failed shortly before 3:30 p.m. Fire officials compared it to a flash flood.

The water pipe that broke handled 75,000 gallons per minute when it was functioning correctly, according to a spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti.