Studio City Water Main Break Aftermath

Studio City (myFOXla.com) - City crews will work today to fix flood-damaged portions of Coldwater Canyon Avenue at the start of what is expected to be a nightmarish work week for thousands of commuters who normally use the roadway to get to the Westside.

With Coldwater Canyon expected to remain closed until at least Friday because of the weekend rupture of a 64-inch steel water main, officials advised San Fernando Valley commuters to use Beverly Glen or Laurel Canyon boulevards as alternatives.

Workers finished welding repairs on a ruptured cast iron water trunk line Monday and planned to hand the Studio City flood site over to street repair crews some time today, a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokeswoman said.

"We completed the welding. We are now working on disinfecting the pipes. Then we'll put water through it, check the pressurization, see if there's any soft spots," said DWP spokeswoman Kim Hughes. "If there are, we'll go back and look at additional welding.

"If everything runs smoothly, then we'll start back-filling, filling in the hole, take it up to the street level and then street services will take over in servicing and fixing the streets," she said.

The pipe was installed in 1914 by city water engineer William Mulholland. Its failure Saturday was the second time that the busy Studio City neighborhood of shops, apartments and houses was flooded because of trunk line failure.

The main relays Owens Valley water under heavy pressure from a reservoir near Sylmar to the Franklin Reservoir above Beverly Hills. It split apart at its rivets late Saturday.

The rupture unleashed a torrent of water that swept through apartment garages, dwellings and businesses along a three-block section of Coldwater Canyon Avenue as it descends from the Hollywood Hills and crosses Ventura Boulevard. In some places, the water was four feet deep.

As the area dried out, city engineers looked at the northern end of the flood area, where millions of gallons of water cascaded off the Coldwater Canyon Avenue bridge and splashed into the concrete Los Angeles River.

The same pipe split apart on Sept. 19, 1993, just 200 feet away from Saturday's rupture. Buildings were similarly flooded then. City engineers are in the midst of a five-phase replacement effort scheduled to reach the Studio City area in two years.

Coldwater Canyon was closed both north and south of Ventura Boulevard, from Moorpark Street on the north to Halkirk Street on the south.

Los Angeles Department of Transportation workers will direct traffic at Studio City intersections, particularly during rush hours, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said.