The world famous Sunset strip resembles a river after water main break http://t.co/qfwq5kF6BN pic.twitter.com/o6VtJ3PVPL — Jon Passantino (@passantino) September 26, 2014

So this is just how we live now: every couple months or so, a giant water main breaks and floods Sunset Boulevard and totally fucks everyone's commute and causes who knows how much damage. July's big Sunset Flood was by UCLA in Westwood; today's was on the world famous Sunset Strip. At 2:18 pm today, a 36-inch pipe at Sunset and Olive—between the Mondrian, the Comedy Store, and the House of Blues—burst spectacularly, gushing water down Sunset and along side streets. According to an LADWP release issued this afternoon, "The shutdown operation of the pipeline is complex and is estimated to involve approximately 15 valves that have to be hand-turned in a coordinated manner." That seems to have finally been taken care of around 6 pm, according to the LADWP's Twitter. The agency suspects that the pipe involved was installed in 1916 and cement-lined in 1957 to extend its life; most of LA's pipes are about a hundred years old and there's only enough money to replace them every 300 years, so yeah, this is just how we live now. Anyway, at least we can enjoy many crazy photos and videos of the water-main-break madness:

LADWP crews en route to WeHo water-main break. Water rushing from Sunset down to Santa Monica Blvd pic.twitter.com/VA1r6ycrGN — ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 26, 2014





2nd time in recent months Sunset Blvd has been closed due to flood caused by broken water main http://t.co/t6Z9Vey14C pic.twitter.com/OjnTyV1fsd — KRON 4 News (@kron4news) September 26, 2014





Droughtizens, get there with yer buckets: Water main break sends torrents down Sunset Strip http://t.co/6maY8GpArj pic.twitter.com/v3VXHdxBpf — Nancy Rivera Brooks (@NRiveraBrooksLA) September 26, 2014





PHOTOS: Water main break soaks Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. Photo by @RobertNBCLA http://t.co/NZs2Dg2JUO pic.twitter.com/QNK2Y6eIGV — NBC Los Angeles (@NBCLA) September 26, 2014





Water main break closing part of Sunset Blvd. in #WestHollywood. #DWP says water won't shut off for another two hrs! pic.twitter.com/lF2qQI7sJb — Tena Ezzeddine (@TenaNBCLA) September 26, 2014





Crews on scene sandbagging on Sunset Blvd after water-main break http://t.co/wTiIR6VdEm pic.twitter.com/LZZntqmU8W — ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 26, 2014













· The 11 Craziest Photos From the Great UCLA Flood of '14 [Curbed LA]

· Seven Scary Facts About Los Angeles's Aging Infrastructure [Curbed LA]