Los Feliz / Hollywood sinkhole swallows van, Los Angeles
What happened
Just before noon on 14 October 2026 a sinkhole opened in the street near Franklin and Normandie avenues in Los Angeles after a water main broke, and the front of a parked Spectrum van dropped into it. CBS headlines the area as Hollywood; it is in Los Feliz, near the John Sowden House.
What reports confirm
- LADWP said a water main broke around 11:10am, causing a six-foot hole to open in the street. (CBS Los Angeles)
- The main is 8 inches in diameter, was installed in 1938, and about 30 services were affected (LADWP). The cause of the break was still being investigated. (CBS Los Angeles)
- Spectrum said its technician was working in the area and was not injured; a neighbour said he was in the rear of the truck when it started to sink. The van was removed by 4pm. (CBS Los Angeles)
- Neighbours said water problems in the area go back years, and that about two weeks earlier water was seen seeping through the pavement in an alleyway and crews repaired it. LADWP says there is no indication that work is related to the main break. (CBS Los Angeles)
- LADWP replaces about 45 miles of pipe a year, and its leak detection team has found nearly 100 leaks so far this year. (CBS Los Angeles)
Cause: Cause of the main break under investigation by LADWP.
Likely mechanism, general engineering
General engineering, not a finding about this event
Water escaping from a pressurised pipe can wash fine soil out of the pipe bedding and trench backfill, and the soil gets carried away along the trench or into other pipes and drains, leaving a growing void. The pavement and base can arch over that void for a surprisingly long time, so the surface looks normal until the remaining crust can no longer carry a load such as a van. When a main bursts outright, the flow can erode a large cavity in minutes, so it is often hard to say afterwards whether the void formed slowly beforehand or quickly at the break. LADWP has not yet given a cause, so this is a general explanation only.