KTLA

Water issues plague Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw area after main breaks

A sinkhole has opened up in the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw area of Los Angeles after two days of water issues in the area.

Mary Vassel, who lives in the 3600 block of Somerset Drive, told KTLA the issues began Saturday with a water main break.


That break resulted in an 18-hour water outage in the area of Obama Boulevard and Somerset, though it was temporarily restored until 2 a.m. Monday.

Vassel said at that time, she noticed she’d lost water pressure, and when daylight broke, she saw water, a buckled street and a car partially in a hole created by the broken main.

Footage from Sky5 showed a white car mostly in the damaged area of the street.

Albert Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said the Monday break of an 8-inch cast iron main was reported at 3:30 a.m. He added that four other leaks have been reported in the area since Saturday.

About 60 residents were affected, and their water access is expected to be restored by 5 p.m., Rodriguez said.