STUDIO CITY — Two cars that had plunged more than 20 feet into a sinkhole during a downpour in Studio City were hauled out early Saturday while workers toiled throughout the day to shore up the failed sewer line divot.
The giant hole at Woodbridge Street just west of Laurel Canyon Boulevard was likely caused by the torrential rain and potential failure of an 89-year-old sewer pipe, said Gary Lee Moore, city engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Public Works. All the wastewater was contained in the sewer..
“The good news is, two cars have been removed from the sinkhole,” Moore said. “We are now in the process of putting down steel plate so that we have room to put shoring in the hole.
“It’ll take as long as it takes — right now we don’t want sewage on the streets.”
Laurel Canyon Boulevard remained closed between Moorpark Street and Valley Spring Lane, while Woodbridge Street was closed east of Laurel Canyon. It was uncertain when the road would reopen, Moore said.
Throughout the day, dozens of onlookers gathered outside the shuttered intersection to gaped at the hole where Los Angeles firefighters Friday night had made a dramatic rescue.
It was just after 8:15 p.m. Friday when firefighters rolled up to find a Mercedes-Benz SUV flipped upside down in the huge hole full of rushing water.
A 48-year-old woman who had escaped her car was standing atop its upturned chassis, about 10 feet below street level.
She had opened the car door, scrambled over the door sill, and was screaming for help.
“Firefighters jumped into action and rapidly lowered a (20-foot) extension ladder down to the woman, allowing her to climb out, and transported her to a local hospital in fair condition,” said Erik Scott, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
“She said she thought she was going to die — then she heard the firefighters yell back to her.”
The backwheels of a Honda minivan, meanwhile, had fallen partially into the hole.
Both cars were removed by giant tow trucks before 4 a.m. By midmorning, the muddied black Mercedes ML350 with its roof, windshield and hood smashed in was hauled off on a flatbed tow truck.
A city emergency sewer contractor was working to to shore up the sinkhole in order to remove debris, while a backhoe installed the steel plates.
They planned to send a close-circuit television camera into the 48-inch concrete semi-elliptical sewer pipe to assess the damage, Moore said.
“We don’t know the exact cause of this,” he said. “But old concrete starts to erode. I’m sure this didn’t start yesterday or the day before.”
Drivers were advised to avoid the area. Local access was available for residents.
Residents, meanwhile, were amazed anyone could have survived the plunge.
“Can you imagine how scary this is?” asked Heather Karpel, 39, who lives a few doors down Woodbridge Street, surveying the smashed Mercedes and the rattan patio furniture through its back window covered with mud or sewage. “Falling into a sinkhole.
“She’s lucky she’s OK.”
Another resident second guessed her decision to sell some wheels beefy to withstand such a tumble, for a Toyota Prius.
“This makes me question not having an SUV anymore,” said Tabatha, of Studio City, who declined to give her last name. “Anything smaller — I wouldn’t want to be in a car with a roll-over safely less than that.”
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