Broken Water Main Opens Hole in Road

WOODLAND HILLS — A break in a water main created a large hole on Topanga Canyon Boulevard on Sunday, closing some lanes of the busy thoroughfare and rerouting holiday shoppers around the Promenade and Topanga Plaza malls, Los Angeles police said.

Lt. Thomas Kirk at the LAPD’s West Valley station said the break was discovered about 7 a.m. near the northeast corner of the intersection of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Erwin Street. The city Department of Water and Power expanded the hole to 20 feet across to work on repairs. The northbound lanes of Topanga were closed between Victory Boulevard and Erwin Street.

The westbound lanes of Erwin Street also were closed from Canoga Avenue to Topanga Canyon Boulevard. Shoppers had to take alternate routes to the malls, which also are accessible from side streets.

It will take several days to fix the roadway, which was damaged by the water and had buckled about 100 yards from the original problem, Kirk added. There were no injuries and no cars were damaged, he said.