A water main in the East Hollywood area flooded a street outside an apartment complex Thursday morning and sent water into underground parking garages.
The early morning break in the 600 block of New Hampshire Avenue occurred just about one mile east of another pipe break on Melrose Avenue, near Paramount Studios. A third, much smaller, break was reported in the northeast San Fernando Valley community of Lake View Terrace.
The East Hollywood break forced residents to move their cars parked on the street to avoid rising waters, which flowed into at least two underground parking garages. A pump from nearby Los Angeles City College was used to remove some of the water from the garage, where vehicles were partially submerged.
People who live along New Hampshire, just a block from the break, faced the brunt of the personal damage.
"My first thing was, jump out of bed, get your keys!" said Cynthia Brewer-Jarland. "My son's car is inside the garage. I got mine out in time."
Neighbors say this happened twice before. Thursday marked the second time garages in the neighborhood flooded due to a water main break, residents said.
"Last year they were saying they didn't want to pay the cars so I don't know how this is going to work out," said Vanessa Perez.
Brewer-Jarland said she thinks everyone in the building has had it.
"But they're afraid to come out and express themselves about it," she said.
Larger, more powerful pumps removed the rest of the water and street repairs continued into the afternoon.
Vermont Avenue was closed in both directions for repairs. Aerial video showed a large stretch of the street underwater as vehicles splashed through its intersection with Melrose Avenue.
Water continued to flow until about 7:45 a.m. from the break involving a 12-inch pipe installed in 1929.
Crews located a 12-foot-long split on the pipe.
About 15 commercial customers were affected.
At least one 6,000-gallon water truck will capture water to use elsewhere in the city, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. One enterprising resident scooped buckets of water from the gutter to water plants in front of her home.
John Cádiz Klemack contributed to this report.
