A sinkhole opened up in a Crenshaw street Monday morning after the latest water main break in the neighborhood.
The water main break in the 3600 block of Somerset Drive was the second in the area in the last three days. Water flooded the street after the first pipe break on Saturday. Another break was reported Monday morning.
Repairs have been ongoing since the weekend.
"The water was coming out of the ground and my daughter asked, 'Where's that water coming from?' And, I said. 'I don't know,'" said resident Mary Williams Vassel. "LADWP came to fix it, or at least they thought they fixed it. They had to dig 17 feet, found what was there, and when they turned on the water, it exploded again, and water came all over the street again."
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Orange cones and safety tape blocked off the damaged section of road. About 60 homes were affected.
The ruptured pipe is about 85 years old, but age isn't necessarily the reason it broke
"We have pipes that are much older in the city that has never given us any problems, but unfortunately, we just had it happen here," said Rosalba Santana, LADWP Emergency Response Coordinator. "We are now prioritizing this section of pipe for replacement."
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The sinkhole was at about 40-by-40 feet Monday afternoon. Repairs were expected to be complete late Monday or early Tuesday.
