Water main break damages at least one family’s home in Granada Hills

LOS ANGELES (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - A water main break caused major flooding on a street in L.A.'s Granada Hills Saturday, damaging at least one family's home after shooting hundreds of gallons of water through the residence.

Surveillance footage captured a ruptured water main exploding into a family's yard in Granada Hills Saturday. So powerful, it even knocked out the camera.

Barton and Lucy Nazarian came home to find this huge mess in their yard, caused by water that barreled through from a water main break at the intersection of Cessna and Balboa Boulevards, sending water gushing down the street along with tree branches and debris.

"I've never seen something like that. I've seen it on in movies, but not something that was, you know, experiencing seeing in my house in my backyard. So it was scary moment for us," Nazarian expressed.

The Nazarians were shocked by the water's force which took down their heaters, lights, large planters, barbecue and part of their fencing.

"Fortunately, we're not here and especially our grandkids. They always come swim outside. So, if they were here...they're small, you know, they were not going to survive this for sure," Nazarian shared.

According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), there was a temporary connection at this location that experienced a pressure spike causing the connection to separate.

The connection was meant to be de-watered Saturday evening and the break was unexpected.

LADWP says this will not set them back too much. However, it will cause an extreme loss of pressure because crews have turned off the main to assess the damage.

The break comes as LADWP works to repair a broken valve at a pump station that was damaged last Tuesday, causing a water outage for 9,200 households in Granada Hills and porter ranch.

Officials estimate it's impacting about 31,000 people.

On Saturday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass held a press conference addressing the ongoing work to get it restored, urging people to conserve their use of tap water until it's fixed.

"But we are very concerned that if people continue to use the water that is coming out of their faucets today, it is going to delay the ability of the DWP to get the line back and restored and for your use of water to be back to normal," Mayor Bass remarked.

LADWP says crews are working 24 hours a day to get water flowing again, but it's a very tedious and complex process.

Until then, the Nazarian family is worried about the possibility of another water main break that could do even more damage.

"I don't feel safe because I'm not sure if another one is gonna happen again. That's one of them, also my concern," Nazarian said.